OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


True  Detective 
Stories 


WILLIAM  A.   PINKERTON 


True  Detective 
Stories 


From  the  Archives  of  the 
Pinkertons 


By 

Cleveland  Moffett 


NEW   YOR  K: 

G.    W.     Dillingham     Co.,    Publishers, 


Copyright,  1893,  1894 
S.  S.  McCLURE  Co. 

Copyright,  1897 
DOUBLEDAY  &   McCLURE  Co. 


CONTENTS 

* 

PAGE 

The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery  .  .  I 
The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery  .  57 
The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery  .  -95 
The  Rock  Island  Express  .  .  .121 
The  Destruction  or  the  Renos  .  .161 
The  American  Exchange  Bank  Robbery  .  193 


M599452 


The  Northampton  Bank 
Robbery 


The  Northampton  Bank 
Robbery 


A  BOUT  midnight  on  Tuesday,  January 
IjL  25,  1876,  five  masked  men  entered 
the  house  of  John  Whittelsey  in  North- 
ampton, Massachusetts.  Mr.  Whittelsey 
was  the  cashier  of  the  Northampton 
National  Bank,  and  was  known  to  have 
in  his  possession  the  keys  of  the  bank 
building  and  the  combination  to  the  bank 
vault.  The  five  men  entered  the  house 
noiselessly,  with  the  aid  of  false  keys, 
previously  prepared.  Passing  up-stairs 
to  the  sleeping- apartments,  they  over- 
powered seven  inmates  of  the  house, 
gagging  and  binding  them  so  that  resis- 
3 


True  Detective  Stories 

tance  or  alarm  was  impossible.  These 
were  Mr.  Whittelsey  and  his  wife,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  T.  B.  Cutler,  Miss  Mattie 
White,  Miss  Benton,  and  a  servant- 
girl. 

The  bedroom  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whittel- 
sey was  entered  by  two  men  who  seemed 
to  be  leaders  of  the  band.  One  wore  a 
long  linen  duster  buttoned  nearly  to  the 
knees,  also  gloves  and  overshoes;  the 
other  wore  a  jacket  and  overalls.  Both 
men  had  their  faces  concealed  behind 
masks,  and  one  of  them  carried  a  dark- 
lantern.  On  entering  the  room  the  two 
men  went  directly  to  the  bed,  one  stand- 
ing on  either  side,  and  handcuffed  Mr. 
Whittelsey  and  his  wife.  Both  carried 
revolvers.  The  proceedings  were  much 
the  same  in  the  other  rooms. 

After  some  delay  and  whispered  con- 
sultation, the  robbers  ordered  the  five 
women  to  get  up  and  dress.  When  they 
had  done  so,  they  were  roped  together 
by  ankles  and  wrists,  and  taken  into  a 
4 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

small  room,  where  they  were  kept  under 
guard  by  one  of  the  band.  Mr.  Cutler 
also  was  imprisoned  in  the  same  way. 
Then  the  two  leaders  devoted  them- 
selves to  Mr.  Whittelsey.  They  told  him 
plainly  that  they  had  come  for  the  keys 
of  the  bank  and  the  combination  of  the 
vault,  and  that  they  would  "  make  it  hot " 
for  him  unless  he  gave  them  what  they 
wanted.  Mr.  Whittelsey  replied  that  it 
was  useless  to  attempt  to  break  into  the 
bank,  as  the  locks  were  too  strong  for 
their  efforts  and  he  would  not  betray 
his  trust.  At  this  the  man  in  the  linen 
duster  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said 
they  would  see  about  that. 

Mr.  Whittelsey  was  then  taken  down- 
stairs, and  again  summoned  to  surren- 
der the  keys.  Again  he  refused.  At 
this  the  man  in  the  overalls  put  his  hand 
in  the  cashier's  trousers-pocket  and  drew 
forth  a  key. 

"Is  this  the  key  to  the  bank?"  he 
asked. 

5 


True  Detective  Stories 

"Yes,  it  is,"  answered  the  cashier, 
hoping  to  gain  time. 

"  You  lie/5  said  the  robber,  with  threat- 
ening gesture,  at  the  same  time  trying 
the  key  in  the  lock  of  the  front  door  of 
the  house,  which  it  turned. 

"Don't  hit  him  yet,"  said  the  other; 
"  he  is  sick."  Then  he  asked  Mr.  Whit- 
telsey  if  he  wanted  a  drink  of  brandy. 
Mr.  Whittelsey  shook  his  head  no.  Then 
the  man  in  the  linen  duster  renewed  his 
demands.  He  wanted  the  combination  of 
the  vault.  Mr.  Whittelsey  gave  him  some 
figures,  which  the  robber  wrote  down  on  a 
piece  of  paper.  These  were  for  the  outer 
door  of  the  vault.  He  demanded  the 
combination  for  the  inner  door,  and  Mr. 
Whittelsey  gave  him  other  figures.  Hav- 
ing written  these  down  also,  the  robber 
came  close  to  his  prisoner  and  said,  "Will 
you  swear  these  figures  are  correct?" 

"  I  will,"  answered  Mr.  Whittelsey. 

"You  are  lying  again.     If  they  are 
correct,  let  's  hear  you  repeat  them." 
6 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

The  cashier  could  not  do  this,  and  so 
disclosed  that  the  figures  were  not  the 
right  ones. 

"  See,  Number  One,"  said  the  robber, 
addressing  his  comrade,  "  we  're  wasting 
time;  we  '11  have  to  teach  him  to  stop 
lying." 

As  he  spoke  he  struck  the  sharp  point 
of  his  lead-pencil  into  Mr.  Whittelsey's 
face  so  violently  as  to  make  a  wound, 
and  followed  this  with  several  blows  on 
the  body. 

"Will  you  tell  us  now?"  he  asked. 

Mr.  Whittelsey  kept  silent.  Then  both 
men  came  at  him,  wringing  his  ears,  shak- 
ing him  by  the  throat,  hurling  him  to  the 
floor,  and  pounding  their  knees  into  his 
chest.  For  three  hours  this  torture  was 
continued.  More  than  once  the  ruffians 
placed  their  revolvers  at  Mr.  Whittelsey's 
head,  declaring  they  would  blow  his 
brains  out  unless  he  yielded.  Finally  he 
did  yield;  the  suffering  was  too  great; 
the  supreme  instinct  of  self-preservation 
7 


True  Detective  Stories 

asserted  itself.  Toward  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  bruised  from  head  to  foot, 
and  worn  beyond  further  resistance,  he 
surrendered  the  keys,  and  revealed  the 
true  combination  of  the  vault. 

Then  the  robbers  went  away,  leaving 
two  of  their  associates  to  watch  over  the 
prisoners.  One  of  the  band,  before  his 
departure,  did  not  disdain  to  search  Mr. 
Whittelsey's  clothes  and  take  his  watch 
and  chain  and  fourteen  dollars  in  money. 
The  last  of  the  band  remained  in  the 
house  until  six  o'clock;  and  it  was 
an  hour  later  before  Mr.  Whittelsey 
succeeded  in  freeing  himself  from  his 
bonds. 

He  hurried  at  once  to  the  bank,  arriv- 
ing there  soon  after  seven  o'clock.  He 
found  the  vault  door  locked,  and  its  dials 
broken  off,  so  that  it  was  impossible  at 
the  moment  to  determine  the  extent  of 
the  robbery,  or,  indeed,  whether  there 
had  been  any  robbery.  It  was  necessary 
8 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

to  send  to  New  York  for  an  expert  before 
the  vault  could  be  opened,  which  was 
not  accomplished  until  late  that  night, 
twenty  hours  after  the  attack  had  been 
made.  Then  it  was  found  that  the  rob- 
bers had  been  only  too  successful,  having 
secured  money  and  securities  estimated 
at  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars.  Much 
of  this  sum  was  safe-deposits,  and  the 
loss  fell  on  the  depositors;  and  to 
some  it  was  the  loss  of  their  whole 
property. 

At  this  time  the  authorities  had  no 
clue  to  the  identity  of  the  robbers,  though 
they  had  left  behind  them  numerous  evi- 
dences of  their  presence,  such  as  dark- 
lanterns,  masks,  sledge-hammers,  over- 
shoes, and  the  like.  Their  escape  had 
been  managed  as  skilfully  as  the  robbery 
itself.  Sheriff's  officers  and  detectives 
did  their  best  during  subsequent  days 
and  weeks,  but  their  efforts  were  in  vain. 
The  president  of  the  bank  offered  a  re- 
9 


True  Detective  Stories 

ward  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for 
the  apprehension  of  the  robbers  and  the 
return  of  the  property;  but  there  were 
no  discoveries. 

When  several  months  had  elapsed,  the 
Pinkertons  were  called  into  the  case. 
They  began  by  carefully  studying  cer- 
tain communications  that  had  been  re- 
ceived by  the  bank  directors  from  persons 
claiming  to  have  in  their  possession  the 
missing  securities.  The  first  of  these 
communications  was  dated  New  York, 
February  27,  1876,  about  a  month  after 
the  robbery.  It  ran  as  follows,  the  letters 
of  each  word  being  carefully  printed  with 
a  pen,  so  that  there  was  little  chance  of 
identification  through  the  handwriting : 

"  DEAR  SIRS  :  When  you  are  satisfied 
with  detective  skill  you  can  make  a  prop- 
osition to  us,  the  holders,  and  if  you  are 
liberal  we  may  be  able  to  do  business 
with  you.  If  you  entertain  any  such 
ideas,  please  insert  a  personal  in  the  New 
York  'Herald.'  Address  to  XXX,  and 
10 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

sign  '  Rufus,'  to  which  due  attention  will 
be  paid.     To  satisfy  you  that  we  hold 
papers,  we  send  you  a  couple  of  pieces." 
[No  signature.] 

No  attention  had  been  paid  to  this 
letter,  although  two  certificates  of  stock 
accompanied  it  which  had  undoubtedly 
been  in  the  bank's  vault.  Three  other 
letters  of  a  similar  nature  had  been  re- 
ceived later.  To  one  of  these  the  bank 
people  had  sent  a  guarded  reply,  which 
had  called  forth  the  following  response, 
dated  New  York,  October  20,  1876: 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  Since  you  have  seen 
fit  to  recognize  the  receipt  of  our  letter, 
we  will  now  send  you  our  price  for  the 
return  of  the  goods.  The  United  States 
coupon  bonds  and  money  taken  cannot 
be  returned ;  but  everything  else — bonds, 
letters,  and  papers,  to  the  smallest  docu- 
ment— will  be  returned  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  If  these  fig- 
ures suit  you,  we  will  make  arrangements, 
according  to  our  promise,  and  you  may 
have  the  goods  as  soon  as  preliminaries 
ii 


True  Detective  Stories 

can  be  arranged  for  the  safe  conduct  of 
the  business.  If  you  agree  to  this  price, 
insert  in  the  New  York  '  Herald '  per- 
sonal column  the  simple  word  *  Agatha.' 
"  Respectfully,  etc., 

"  RUFUS." 

The  special  value  of  these  letters  was 
in  helping  the  detectives  to  decide  which 
one  of  several  gangs  of  bank  robbers  then 
operating  in  the  country  was  most  like- 
ly to  have  committed  the  crime.  Being 
familiar  with  the  methods  of  each  gang, 
Robert  Pinkerton  was  able  to  draw  use- 
ful inferences  from  evidence  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  insignificant.  He 
knew,  for  instance,  that  the  notorious 
gang  headed  by  James  Dunlap  would  be 
more  apt  than  any  other  to  thus  negoti- 
ate for  the  return  of  all  the  securities  in 
a  lump,  since  it  was  Dunlap's  invariable 
rule  to  insist  upon  personally  controlling 
the  proceeds  of  his  robberies  until  final 
disposition  was  made  of  them.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  gangs  headed  respec- 

12 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

lively  by  the  notorious  "  Jimmy  "  Hope, 
"  Worcester  Sam,"  and  George  Bliss 
might  have  divided  the  securities  among 
the  members,  and  then  tried  to  negotiate 
a  compromise  on  the  individual  portions. 

A  fact  of  much  significance  to  the 
Pinkertons  was  the  rather  remarkable 
interest  in  the  case,  and  apparent  famil- 
iarity with  it,  shown  by  one  J.  G.  Evans, 
an  expert  in  safes  and  vaults  and  the 
representative  of  one  of  the  largest  safe- 
manufactories  in  the  country. 

The  day  after  the  robbery  Evans  had 
been  at  Bristol,  Connecticut,  in  the  inter- 
est of  his  firm,  who,  on  receipt  of  the 
news,  had  immediately  wired  him  to 
proceed  to  Northampton.  His  presence 
in  Northampton  was  regarded  as  nothing 
strange,  for  he  had  been  there  several 
times  during  the  months  just  preceding 
the  robbery,  and  once  had  inspected  the 
lock  and  dials  of  the  vault  of  the  robbed 
bank.  What  did  seem  a  little  strange, 
however,  was  Evans's  evident  interest  in 
13 


True  Detective  Stories 

the  negotiations  for  a  compromise.  On 
a  dozen  different  occasions  he  talked  with 
the  president  and  other  officers  of  the 
bank  regarding  the  robbery,  and  insinu- 
ated quite  plainly  that  he  might  be  in  a 
position  to  assist  them  in  recovering  their 
lost  securities.  A  few  months  after  the 
robbery  he  even  went  so  far  as  to  tell 
one  of  the  directors  that  he  could  name 
the  members  of  the  gang. 

This  disposition  of  Evans  to  put  him- 
self forward  in  the  negotiations  had  all 
the  more  significance  to  Robert  Pinker- 
ton  from  the  fact  that  it  had  been  rumored 
that  a  series  of  daring  bank  robberies 
lately  committed  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  had  owed  their  success  to  the 
participation  of  an  expert  in  safes  and 
locks,  who  had  been  able,  through  his 
position  of  trust,  to  reveal  to  the  robbers 
many  secrets  of  weak  bank  locks,  safes, 
and  vaults.  Up  to  this  time  these  rumors 
had  remained  indefinite,  and  no  one  ven- 
tured to  name  the  man.  It  was  known, 
'4 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

however,  that  the  false  expert  was  a  man 
of  high  standing  in  his  calling  and  gen- 
erally regarded  as  above  suspicion.  It 
was  also  known  that  there  was  great 
jealousy  in  other  gangs  of  bank  robbers 
because  of  the  amazing  success  of  the 
gang  with  whom  this  man  was  working, 
and  that  overtures  even  had  been  made 
by  the  leaders  of  some  other  gangs  to 
win  over  to  their  own  gangs  this  desir- 
able accomplice.  Robert  Pinkerton  had 
already  concluded  that  the  gang  so  ably 
assisted  was  the  Dunlap  gang;  and  he 
was  now  pretty  well  persuaded,  also,  that 
the  Northampton  robbery  had  been  com- 
mitted by  the  Dunlap  gang.  There  was 
every  reason,  therefore,  for  keeping  a 
sharp  eye  on  the  safe-expert  Evans. 

As  he  studied  the  case,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
recalled  a  circumstance  that  had  hap- 
pened in  the  fall  of  1875.  On  the  night 
of  November  4,  1875,  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  had  been 
robbed  of  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  Mr. 
15 


True  Detective  Stories 

Pinkerton  had  gone  there  to  investigate 
the  case.  He  met  a  number  of  safe-men, 
it  being  a  business  custom  with  safe-men 
to  flock  to  the  scene  of  an  important  bank 
robbery  in  order  to  supply  new  safes  for 
the  ones  that  have  been  wrecked.  While 
they  were  all  examining  the  vault,  still 
littered  with  debris  of  the  explosion,  the 
representative  of  one  of  the  safe-compa- 
nies picked  up  a  small  air-pump  used  by 
the  robbers,  and,  looking  at  it  critically, 
remarked  that  he  would  have  sworn  it 
belonged  to  his  company,  did  he  not 
know  that  was  impossible.  The  air- 
pump  was,  he  declared,  of  precisely  his 
company's  model,  one  that  had  been  re- 
cently devised  for  a  special  purpose.  At 
the  time  Mr.  Pinkerton  regarded  this  as 
merely  a  coincidence,  but  now  the  mem- 
ory came  to  him  as  a  flash  of  inspiration 
that  the  man  who  had  remarked  the 
similarity  in  the  air-pump  represented 
the  same  company  that  employed  Evans. 
In  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  it 
16 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

was  decided  to  put  Evans  under  the 
closest  questioning.  He  did  not  deny 
that  he  had  made  unusual  efforts  to 
effect  the  return  of  the  securities,  but 
professed  that  it  was  because  he  was 
sincerely  sorry  for  the  many  people  who 
had  been  ruined  through  the  robbery. 
And  he  professed  to  believe,  also,  that 
he  had  been  unjustly  treated  in  the 
affair,  though  just  how,  and  by  whom, 
he  would  not  say.  To  the  detective's 
trained  observation  it  was  apparent  that 
he  was  worried  and  apprehensive  and 
not  at  all  sure  of  himself. 

In  November,  1876,  George  H.  Bangs, 
superintendent  of  the  Pinkerton  Agency, 
a  man  possessed  of  very  remarkable  skill 
in  eliciting  confessions  from  suspected 
persons,  had  an  interview  with  Evans. 
He  professed  to  Evans  that  the  detec- 
tives had  secured  evidence  that  practi- 
cally cleared  up  the  whole  mystery ;  that 
they  knew  (whereas  they  still  only  sur- 
mised) that  the  robbery  had  been  com- 
17 


True  Detective  Stories 

mitted  by  the  Dunlap  and  Scott  gang, 
and  that  Evans  was  a  confederate ;  that 
for  weeks  they  had  been  shadowing 
Scott  and  Dunlap  (which  was  true),  and 
could  arrest  them  at  any  moment;  that 
there  was  no  doubt  that  the  gang  had 
been  trying  to  play  Evans  false  (a  very 
shrewd  guess),  and  would  sacrifice  him 
without  the  slightest  compunction ;  and, 
finally,  that  there  was  open  to  Evans  one 
of  two  courses — either  to  suffer  arrest  on 
a  charge  of  bank  robbery,  with  the  pros- 
pect of  twenty  years  in  prison,  or  save 
himself,  and  at  the  same  time  earn  a 
substantial  money  reward,  by  making 
a  clean  confession  of  his  connection  with 
the  crime.  All  this,  delivered  with  an 
air  of  completest  certainty,  was  more  than 
Evans  could  stand  up  against.  He  broke 
down  completely,  and  told  all  he  knew. 
The  story  told  by  Evans  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  crime. 
He  admitted  the  correctness  of  Robert 
Pinkerton's  inference  that  the  Northamp- 
18 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

ton  Bank  had  been  robbed  by  Scott  and 
Dunlap  and  their  associates,  and  in  order 
to  explain  his  own  connection  with  this 
formidable  gang  he  went  back  to  its 
organization  in  1872.  The  leader  of  the 
gang  was  James  Dunlap,  alias  James 
Barton,  who,  before  he  became  a  bank 
robber,  had  been  a  brakeman  on  the 
Chicago,  Alton  and  St.  Louis  Railroad. 
His  inborn  criminal  instincts  led  him  to 
frequent  the  resorts  of  thieves  in  Chi- 
cago, and  thus  he  met  "  Johnny  "  Lamb 
and  a  man  named  Perry,  who  took  a  lik- 
ing to  him  and  taught  him  all  they  knew 
about  breaking  safes.  Dunlap  soon  out- 
stripped his  masters,  developing  a  genius 
for  robbery  and  for  organization  that 
speedily  proved  him  the  most  formidable 
of  all  the  bank  robbers  then  operating 
in  the  country,  not  even  excepting 
"  Jimmy  "  Hope,  the  notorious  Manhat- 
tan Bank  robber.  He  had  the  long-head- 
edness  and  stubbornness  of  his  Scotch 
parents,  united  with  the  daring  and  in- 


True  Detective  Stories 

genuity  peculiar  to  Americans.  In  the 
fall  of  1872  he  organized  the  most 
dangerous  and  best-equipped  gang  of 
bank  robbers  that  the  country  had  ever 
known. 

Dunlap's  right-hand  man  was  Robert 
C.  Scott,  alias  "  Hustling  Bob,"  originally 
a  deck-hand  on  a  Mississippi  steamboat 
and  afterward  a  hotel  thief.  Scott  was 
a  big,  powerful  man,  with  a  determination 
equal  to  anything.  Their  associates  were 
what  one  might  expect  from  these  two. 
Other  members  of  the  gang  were  Thomas 
Doty,  William  Conroy,  "  Eddie  "  Goody, 
John  Perry,  James  Greer,  a  professional 
burglar  originally  from  Canada,  and  the 
notorious  John  Leary,  alias  "  Red " 
Leary,  of  whom  more  will  be  said  later 
on.  In  addition  to  these,  the  gang  con- 
tained several  members  of  less  impor- 
tance, men  who  acted  merely  as  lookouts, 
or  as  go-betweens  or  messengers. 

The  first  large  operation  of  Dunlap's 
band  occurred  in  1872,  when  they  plun- 

20 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

dered  the  Falls  City  Bank  in  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  of  about  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  escaping  with  their  booty. 
This  was  satisfactory  as  a  beginning,  but 
Dunlap  and  Scott  dreamed  of  achieve- 
ments beside  which  this  was  insignificant. 
They  began  a  careful  investigation 
through  many  States,  to  learn  of  banks 
of  weak  structure  containing  large  trea- 
sure. One  of  the  gang  finally  found  pre- 
cisely what  they  were  in  search  of  in  the 
Second  National  Bank  of  Elmira,  New 
York,  which  institution,  being  a  gov- 
ernment depository,  contained,  as  they 
learned  on  good  authority,  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  greenbacks  and  six 
millions  in  bonds. 

A  survey  of  the  premises  satisfied  the 
gang  that,  massive  though  it  appeared, 
with  its  ponderous  iron  walls  and  com- 
plicated locks,  the  vault  of  this  bank  was 
by  no  means  impossible  of  access.  The 
floor  above  the  bank  was  occupied  by 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 

21 


True  Detective  Stories 

one  of  the  association's  rooms  being 
directly  over  the  vault.  There  was  the 
floor  between,  and  under  that  four  feet 
of  solid  masonry,  some  of  the  stones  in 
it  weighing  a  ton.  And  under  the  ma- 
sonry was  a  layer  of  railroad  iron,  resting 
on  a  plate  of  hardened  steel  an  inch  and 
a  half  thick.  All  this,  however,  so  far 
from  discouraging  the  conspirators,  gave 
them  greater  confidence  in  the  success 
of  their  plan,  once  under  way,  since  the 
very  security  of  the  vault,  by  structure, 
from  overhead  attack  lessened  the  strict- 
ness of  the  surveillance.  Indeed,  the 
most  serious  difficulty,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  robbers,  was  to  gain  easy  and  un- 
suspected admission  to  the  quarters  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
on  the  second  floor.  The  secretary,  a 
very  prudent  man,  had  put  on  the  out- 
side door  of  the  association  rooms  an  im- 
proved Yale  lock,  which  was  then  new 
upon  the  market  and  offered  unusual 
obstacles  to  the  lock-picker.  Neither 
22 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

Dunlap,  Scott,  nor  any  of  their  associates 
had  skill  enough  to  open  this  lock  with- 
out breaking  it,  which  would,  of  course, 
have  been  fatal  to  their  plan.  For  days, 
therefore,  after  all  the  other  details  of 
the  robbery  had  been  arranged,  the 
whole  scheme  seemed  to  be  blocked 
by  a  troublesome  lock  on  an  ordinary 
wooden  door. 

So  serious  a  matter  did  this  finally  be- 
come that  Scott  and  Dunlap  went  to  the 
length  of  breaking  into  the  secretary's 
house  at  night,  and  searching  his  pockets, 
in  the  hope  of  finding  the  keys  and  get- 
ting an  impression  of  them.  But  here, 
again,  the  secretary  had  taken  precau- 
tions that  defeated  their  purpose,  for  he 
had  hidden  the  keys  under  a  carpet, 
where  the  robbers  never  thought  of  look- 
ing for  them.  Disappointed  in  their 
search,  they  went  away,  making  no  at- 
tempt to  carry  off  anything,  a  bit  of  for- 
bearance which  caused  the  excellent 
secretary  much  wonder  the  next  morn- 
23 


True  Detective  Stories 

ing,  when  he  found  that  nothing  was 
missing,  although  there  were  plain  traces 
of  intruders. 

The  Yale  lock  still  continuing  an  in- 
soluble difficulty,  Perry  finally  made  a 
journey  to  New  York,  in  the  hope  of 
finding  some  device  by  which  to  open  it. 
There,  in  the  course  of  his  search,  and  in 
a  curious  way,  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Evans,  then  a  salesman  in  the  employ 
of  a  prominent  safe- company. 

Before  entering  the  employ  of  the  safe- 
manufacturers,  Evans  had  conducted  an 
extensive  mercantile  business  for  him- 
self in  a  large  Eastern  city,  where  he  was 
regarded  as  a  man  of  wealth  and  integ- 
rity. He  had  large  dealings  through  the 
South,  with  extensive  credits;  but  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  had  forced  him  into 
bankruptcy.  It  was  hinted  that  there 
was  some  overshrewd  practice  connected 
with  his  failure,  and  his  subsequent 
sudden  departure  for  Canada  gave  color 
to  the  insinuation.  At  any  rate,  he  com- 
24 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

promised  with  his  creditors  on  a  basis 
advantageous  to  himself. 

On  his  return  from  Canada,  Evans 
took  up  his  residence  in  New  York  City, 
and  began  to  cultivate  habits  far  beyond 
his  income,  notably  the  taste  for  fast 
horses.  Perry  heard  of  Evans  through 
one  Ryan,  whom  he  had  known  as  a 
"  crook  "  years  before,  but  who  was  then 
running  a  livery-stable  in  an  up-town 
street.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  livery- 
stable  was  merely  a  blind  for  the  sale  of 
unsound  horses  "  doctored  up  "  to  de- 
ceive unsuspecting  buyers.  But  of  this 
Evans  knew  nothing,  and,  in  good  faith, 
had  stabled  one  of  his  own  horses  with 
Ryan.  This  had  led  to  an  intimacy  be- 
tween him  and  Ryan,  and  now,  at  Perry's 
suggestion,  Ryan  encouraged  Evans  in 
his  disposition  to  live  beyond  his  means. 

Before  long  Evans  found  himself  much 

cramped   financially.     Being  unable  to 

pay  Ryan  the  money  he  owed  him  for 

stabling,  he  began  to  talk  of  selling  his 

25 


True  Detective  Stories 

horse ;  and  one  day,  when  he  was  com- 
plaining of  being  short  of  money,  Ryan 
said,  "  If  I  had  your  position  I  'd  never 
lack  for  money." 

Evans  asked  him  what  he  meant. 

"  Oh,"  said  Ryan,  "  there  are  plenty 
of  people  who  would  put  up  well  to 
know  some  of  the  things  you  know  about 
safes  and  banks." 

By  degrees  Ryan  made  his  meaning 
more  clear,  and  Evans  grew  properly  in- 
dignant. The  subject  was  dropped  for 
the  moment,  but,  in  subsequent  meet- 
ings, Ryan  kept  reverting  to  it.  Mean- 
time Evans  found  himself  growing  more 
and  more  embarrassed,  and  one  day  he 
said,  "  What  is  it  these  people  want  to 
know?" 

"  Well,"  said  Ryan,  "  they  would  like 
to  know,  for  one  thing,  if  there  is  any 
way  of  beating  these  new  Yale  locks?" 

"  You  can't  pick  a  Yale  lock,"  answered 
Evans — "  that  would  take  too  long ;  but 
there  is  a  way  of  getting  one  open." 
26 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

"How?" 

"  We  '11  talk  that  over  some  day/' 

Having  once  nibbled,  Evans  was  not 
long  in  biting  at  the  bait  thus  adroitly 
held  before  him.  He  consented  to  be 
introduced  to  Perry,  who  shrewdly 
showed  him  what  an  easy  matter  it 
would  be  for  a  man  who  knew  the  secrets 
of  safe-makers  and  could  locate  weak 
banks,  to  make  a  great  deal  of  money, 
without  danger  to  himself. 

"Why,"  said  Perry,  "you  can  make 
more  in  one  night  with  us,  without  any 
one's  suspecting  it,  than  you  can  make 
in  a  year  working  for  these  safe-people." 

The  result  was  that  Evans,  in  consid- 
eration of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  finally 
agreed  to  provide  some  means  of  open- 
ing the  Yale  lock  which  barred  the 
robbers  from  the  coveted  treasure  at 
Elmira. 

Perry,  in  great  delight,  hurried  back 
to  Elmira,  and  reported  his  success  to 
Dunlap  and  Scott.  In  order  to  bring 
27 


True  Detective  Stories 

Evans  to  Elmira  in  a  way  not  to  excite 
suspicion,  a  letter  was  written  to  the 
company  he  served,  containing  a  tempt- 
ing proposition  regarding  the  purchase 
of  safes.  Evans  was  at  once  sent  to 
Elmira  to  look  after  the  matter.  He 
stopped  at  the  Rathbone  House,  where 
he  was  waited  upon  by  Scott,  with 
whom  he  concerted  a  plan  of  operations. 
Scott  was  to  slip  a  thin  piece  of  wood 
into  the  lock  at  night,  so  that  the  lock 
would  not  work.  Then,  as  Evans's  pres- 
ence in  the  city  had  been  made  known, 
it  was  hoped  that  he  would  be  called 
upon,  as  an  expert  in  difficult  locks,  to 
find  out  what  was  the  matter.  This 
would  give  him  an  opportunity  to  secure 
an  impression  of  the  key.  The  plan 
worked  only  too  perfectly;  and  within 
twenty-four  hours  the  conspirators  were 
able  to  pass  in  and  out  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  rooms  as 
they  pleased,  without  the  knowledge  of 
any  one. 

28 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

It  now  remained,  in  order  to  achieve 
the  robbery,  to  dig  down  into  the  vault 
— an  immense  task,  for  which  the  con- 
stant presence  in  Elmira  of  the  whole 
gang  was  necessary.  It  was  also  neces- 
sary that  their  presence  should  not  be 
noticed,  and  to  that  end  a  woman  from 
Baltimore,  who  had  been  associated  with 
one  of  the  gang  in  previous  undertak- 
ings, came  on  to  Elmira  and  took  a  house 
in  the  suburbs,  giving  out  that  she  was 
the  wife  of  a  man  whose  business  kept 
him  traveling  most  of  the  time.  The 
house  was  simply  furnished,  and  every 
day,  for  the  benefit  of  the  neighbors,  the 
woman  made  a  great  pretense  of  sweep- 
ing the  steps,  cleaning  the  windows,  and 
busying  herself  about  the  yard  in  various 
ways.  Meantime,  inside  the  house,  in 
careful  concealment,  the  members  of  the 
gang  were  living — Scott,  Dunlap,  "  Red  " 
Leary,  Conroy,  and  Perry.  They  never 
went  out  in  the  daytime,  and  they  left 
the  place  at  night  so  cautiously,  going 
29 


True  Detective  Stories 

one  at  a  time,  that,  although  they  lived 
here  for  six  weeks,  their  presence  was 
never  suspected. 

Every  night  they  gathered  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  after  the  young  men  had 
gone  home,  using  their  false  keys  to  ob- 
tain admission ;  and  they  remained  there 
hours  at  a  time,  doing  what  would  or- 
dinarily be  the  noisiest  work ;  but  their 
movements  were  so  cautious  and  well 
planned  that  their  presence  in  the  build- 
ing was  never  suspected.  Every  night 
the  carpet  and  flooring  were  taken  up, 
and,  after  they  had  finished  their  exca- 
vations, were  carefully  relaid.  Tons  of 
masonry  and  heavy  stone  were  removed, 
shoveled  into  baskets,  and  carried  up  to 
the  roof  of  the  opera-house,  adjoining 
the  bank  building,  where  there  was  small 
chance  of  the  debris  being  discovered. 
Thus  the  unwearying  rascals  worked 
downward  through  the  layer  of  railroad 
iron,  and  at  last  found  themselves  sepa- 
30 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

rated  from  the  inside  of  the  vault  by  only 
the  plate  of  steel.  Success  seemed  with- 
in their  very  grasp,  when  an  unforeseen 
accident  spoiled  everything. 

One  day  the  president  of  the  bank, 
Mr.  Pratt,  was  surprised,  on  entering  the 
vault,  to  find  the  floor  sprinkled  with  a 
fine  white  dust.  An  investigation  was 
made,  and  the  whole  plot  was  uncovered. 
The  members  of  the  gang,  however,  got 
word  in  time,  and  all  managed  to  escape 
except  Perry,  who  was  convicted  of  at- 
tempted burglary  and  sent  to  the  Au- 
burn prison  for  five  years. 

Undisturbed  by  the  failure,  Scott  and 
Dunlap  proceeded  to  scour  the  country 
again  in  search  of  another  bank  suited  to 
their  operations,  and  in  February,  1874, 
notified  the  gang,  which  now  contained 
some  new  members,  that  they  had  "  found 
something  to  go  to  work  at "  in  Quincy, 
Illinois.  The  attack  on  the  Quincy  bank 
was  made  in  very  much  the  same  way 
as  the  attack  on  the  bank  at  Elmira.  The 
3* 


: 

True  Detective  Stories 

Baltimore  woman  again  rented  a  house 
which  afforded  shelter  and  concealment 
to  the  men ;  access  was  obtained  to 
rooms  over  the  vault  by  false  keys,  as 
before ;  the  flooring  was  taken  up  and 
put  down  every  night  without  exciting 
suspicion;  the  masonry  was  removed, 
the  iron  plates  of  the  vault  were  pene- 
trated, and,  finally,  one  night  Scott  and 
Dunlap  were  able  to  lower  themselves 
through  a  jagged  hole  into  the  money- 
room  beneath. 

It  now  remained  to  force  open  the 
safes  inside  the  vault ;  and  to  accomplish 
this  the  robbers  used,  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  safe-wrecking  in  Amer- 
ica, what  is  known  as  the  air-pump  meth- 
od, which  had  been  devised  by  Evans, 
and  carefully  explained  by  him  to  Scott 
and  Dunlap.  Evans's  employers  were 
at  this  time  introducing  a  padding  de- 
signed to  make  safes  more  secure;  and 
Evans  had  hit  upon  the  idea  of  introduc- 
ing powder  into  the  seams  of  a  safe- door 
32 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

by  an  air-pump,  in  the  presence  of  a  pos- 
sible customer,  in  order  to  impress  him 
with  his  need  of  the  new  padding. 
Evans  himself  was  not  present  at  the 
breaking  open  of  the  Quincy  bank,  and 
he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  robbery 
beyond  furnishing  instruction  and  the 
air-pump.  Scott  and  Dunlap  did  the 
work. 

As  a  first  step,  all  the  seams  of  the 
safes  formed  by  the  doors  were  carefully 
puttied  up,  save  two  small  holes,  one  at 
the  top  and  one  at  the  bottom.  Then, 
at  the  upper  hole,  Scott  held  a  funnel 
filled  with  fine  powder,  while  Dunlap 
applied  the  air-pump  at  the  hole  below. 
By  the  draft  thus  created,  the  powder 
was  drawn  into  all  the  interstices  between 
the  heavy  doors  and  the  frames  of  the 
safes.  Then  a  little  pistol,  loaded  simply 
with  powder,  was  attached  near  the  upper 
hole,  and,  by  a  string  tied  to  the  trigger, 
discharged  from  a  safe  distance  above. 
There  were  several  attempts  made  before 
33 


True  Detective  Stories 

a  complete  explosion  was  effected;  but 
finally  the  safes  were  blown  open  and 
their  contents  secured,  the  robbers  mak- 
ing good  their  escape  with  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  money 
and  about  seven  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars in  bonds.  No  part  of  this  money 
was  ever  recovered  by  the  bank,  nor 
were  any  of  the  gang  captured  at  this 
time.  The  securities  were,  however, 
afterward  sold  back  to  the  bank.  In- 
deed, so  cleverly  had  the  whole  affair 
been  managed  that  no  suspicion  fell  upon 
either  Scott,  Dunlap,  or  any  of  their  as- 
sociates. 

Here  were  fortunes  made  easily  enough, 
with  plenty  more  to  be  made  in  the  same 
way,  and  the  gang  were  in  high  feather 
over  their  success.  During  the  summer 
of  1874  Scott  and  Dunlap  lived  in  prince- 
ly style  in  New  York.  They  attracted 
much  attention  at  Coney  Island  during 
the  season,  where  they  drove  fast  horses. 
No  one  suspected  that  they  were  the 
34 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

leaders  of  the  most  desperate  gang  of 
bank  robbers  ever  organized  in  this  or 
any  country. 

By  fall  their  money  began  to  run  short, 
and  they  decided  to  look  about  for  an- 
other job.  In  the  Quincy  robbery  they 
had  broken  their  agreement  with  Evans, 
paying  him  only  a  small  sum  for  the  use 
of  the  air-pump  which  he  had  furnished 
them.  Now,  however,  they  called  upon 
him  again,  and,  partly  by  threats,  partly 
by  generous  offers,  induced  him  to  assist 
them  again.  A  series  of  unsuccessful 
attempts  at  robbery  were  made  on  banks 
in  Saratoga;  Nantucket;  Covington, 
Kentucky;  and  Rockville,  Connecticut. 
In  several  instances  failure  came  at  the 
very  time  when  success  seemed  sure.  In 
the  case  of  the  Covington  bank,  for  in- 
stance, nitroglycerin  was  used  in  blowing 
open  the  safe,  and  the  explosion  was  so 
violent  that  the  men  became  frightened 
and  fled  in  a  panic,  leaving  behind  un- 
touched, although  exposed  to  view,  two 
35 


True  Detective  Stories 

hundred  thousand  dollars  in  greenbacks 
and  one  million  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  negotiable  bonds.  In  the  case 
of  the  Rockville  bank  their  plans  had 
worked  out  perfectly,  and  they  had  re- 
moved everything  from  the  top  of  the 
vault  but  a  thin  layer  of  brick,  when 
Scott  accidentally  forced  the  jimmy  with 
which  he  was  working  through  the  roof 
of  the  vault  and  let  it  fall  inside.  As  it 
was  too  late  to  complete  the  work  that 
night,  and  as  the  presence  of  the  jimmy 
inside  the  vault  would  inevitably  start  an 
alarm  the  next  day,  they  were  obliged 
to  abandon  the  attempt  entirely. 

The  gang's  most  desperate  adventure 
befell  in  connection  with  the  attempt  on 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Pittston,  Penn- 
sylvania. This  was  made  late  in  the  fall 
of  1875.  The  bank  occupied  a  one-story 
building  covered  with  a  tin  roof,  and  the 
robbers  decided  to  make  the  attack  from 
the  roof.  But  there  was  a  serious  diffi- 
culty in  the  fact  that  in  case  of  rain  com- 

36 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

ing  any  time  after  they  had  begun  oper- 
ations, water  might  soak  through  the 
openings  they  had  made  and  betray 
them.  Dunlap's  ingenuity,  however, 
was  equal  to  this  emergency ;  and  each 
night,  after  finishing  their  excavation, 
they  carefully  relaid  the  sheets  of  tin 
that  had  been  disturbed,  protecting  the 
joints  with  red  putty,  which  matched  the 
roof  in  color.  So  well  did  they  put  on 
this  putty,  that,  although  it  rained  hea- 
vily the  very  day  after  they  began,  not  a 
drop  leaked  through. 

On  the  night  of  November  4  only  one 
layer  of  bricks  separated  them  from  the 
top  of  the  vault,  and  it  was  decided  to 
finish  the  work  and  do  the  robbery  that 
night.  Two  hours*  hard  labor  with 
"  drag  "  and  "  jack-screw  "  sufficed  to 
effect  an  opening,  and  Scott  and  Dunlap 
were  lowered  into  the  vault.  They  found 
three  Marvin  spherical  safes  protected  by 
a  burglar-alarm.  But  Dunlap  was  some- 
what of  an  electrical  expert,  and  was  able 
37 


True  Detective  Stories 

to  so  surround  the  burglar- alarm  with 
heavy  boards  as  to  render  it  of  little 
or  no  danger.  They  experienced  much 
difficulty,  though,  in  blowing  open  the 
safes.  The  first  one  attempted  yielded 
on  the  second  explosion,  and  they  secured 
five  hundred  dollars  in  currency  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars  in  bonds.  The  next 
one  was  far  more  troublesome,  not  less 
than  ten  explosions  being  required  to 
make  way  into  it.  And  just  as  the  task 
was  at  last  accomplished,  and  they  were 
on  the  point  of  seizing  a  great  sum  of 
money,  there  came  a  warning  call  from 
Conroy,  who  was  doing  sentry  duty  on 
the  roof,  and  it  was  necessary  to  fly. 

When  Dunlap  and  Scott  had  been 
dragged  out  of  the  vault  by  their  asso- 
ciates, they  were  found  scarcely  able  to 
run.  During  all  the  twelve  explosions 
of  powder  and  dynamite  they  had  never 
left  the  vault,  but,  crouching  behind  the 
boards  that  guarded  the  burglar-alarm, 
had  remained  within  arm's  length  of  ex- 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

plosions  so  violent  that  they  tore  apart 
plates  of  welded  steel  and  shook  the 
whole  building.  Worse  than  the  shock 
of  these  explosions  were  the  noxious 
gases  generated  by  them,  which  Scott 
and  Dunlap  had  to  breathe.  On  coming 
out,  their  clothes  were  wringing  wet  with 
perspiration,  and  they  were  so  weak  that 
their  legs  tottered  under  them,  and  their 
comrades  had  to  almost  carry  them  for 
a  time.  But,  nevertheless,  they  managed 
to  walk  thirty  miles  that  night,  to  Lehigh, 
where  they  boarded  a  train  to  New  York. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  there  was 
left  behind  in  the  vault  the  air-pump 
which  Robert  Pinkerton  afterward  re- 
called so  shrewdly  to  Evans's  disadvan- 
tage. 

Coming,  in  his  confession,  to  the  North- 
ampton Bank  robbery,  Evans  said  that 
the  gang  had  considered  making  an  at- 
tempt there  for  several  months  before 
the  robbery  was  actually  executed.  For 
a  time  they  had  designed  to  rob  the  First 
39 


True  Detective  Stories 

National  Bank,  where  Evans  had  been 
employed  to  put  in  new  doors,  but  this 
scheme  they  afterward  abandoned.  En- 
joying the  fullest  confidence  of  the  North- 
ampton Bank  officers,  Evans  had  made 
repeated  visits  to  the  bank  and  gained 
important  information  for  his  associates. 
It  was  through  his  influence  that  the  bank 
directors  decided  to  give  the  whole  com- 
bination of  the  vault  to  the  cashier,  Whit- 
telsey,  who  had  previously  been  intrusted 
with  only  half  of  it,  the  remainder  being 
given  to  one  of  the  clerks. 

On  the  night  of  the  robbery  Evans 
was  in  New  York,  but  he  had  gone  to 
Northampton  a  day  or  two  after,  as  already 
stated.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  he  real- 
ized what  immense  wrong  and  suffering 
would  be  inflicted  upon  innocent  people 
by  the  robbers,  and  he  said  it  was  this 
that  had  prompted  him  in  his  efforts  to 
have  the  securities  restored  to  the  owners. 

Returning  to  New  York,  he  at  once 
communicated  with  Scott  and  Dunlap  by 
40 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

means  of  "Herald"  personals,  and  had 
several  interviews  with  them  in  the  city 
during  the  month  of  February.  While 
they  were  anxious  to  dispose  of  the 
securities,  it  was  plain  from  the  first  that 
they  distrusted  Evans  and  proposed  to 
lessen  his  share  of  the  profits.  While 
pretending  to  approve  the  steps  he  was 
taking  for  a  compromise  with  the  bank, 
they  were  really,  without  his  knowledge, 
carrying  on  secret  negotiations  with  the 
same  object.  The  suspicion  on  either 
side  grew  until  finally  it  could  no  longer 
be  concealed.  Meeting  Scott  in  Prospect 
Park  some  time  after  the  robbery,  Evans 
said,  "  When  are  you  going  to  settle  and 
give  me  my  share?" 

"  You  '11  never  get  a  cent,"  answered 
Scott ;  "  you  've  given  the  whole  gang 
away." 

For  some  time  they  did  not  meet  again. 
Evans  continued  his  vain  efforts  for  a 
settlement,  growing  more  and  more  anx- 
ious as  the  months  went  by  and  he 


True  Detective  Stories 

saw  the  danger  to  himself  become  more 
threatening.  On  the  9th  of  November 
he  met  Scott,  Dunlap,  and  "  Red  "  Leary 
on  the  outskirts  of  Brooklyn,  and  a  vio- 
lent quarrel  occurred  about  the  division 
of  the  spoil.  Reproaches  and  threats 
were  exchanged  with  stormy  language, 
and  at  one  time  Evans's  life  was  actually 
in  danger. 

It  was  soon  after  this  interview  that 
Evans  decided,  under  the  management 
of  Superintendent  Bangs,  to  save  himself 
by  making  a  full  confession.  He  had 
fewer  scruples  about  betraying  his  asso- 
ciates, because  he  had  become  convinced 
that  in  the  previous  robberies,  notably  in 
the  one  at  Quincy,  Illinois,  he  had  been 
treated  most  unfairly  by  Scott  and 
Dunlap. 

Evans  said  that  for  several  weeks  pre- 
ceding the  Northampton  robbery  the 
gang  had  concealed  themselves  in  the 
attic  of  a  school-house  which  stood  four, 
or  five  rods  from  the  highway  and  apart 
.42 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

from  other  houses.  His  statement  was 
substantiated  by  the  discovery  in  this 
attic,  after  the  robbery,  of  blankets, 
satchels,  ropes,  bits,  pulleys,  and  provi- 
sions, including  a  bottle  of  whisky  bear- 
ing the  label  of  a  New  York  firm. 

After  the  vault  had  been  rifled,  the 
money  and  securities  were  placed  in  a 
bag  and  a  pillow-case,  and  carried  to  the 
school-house,  where  they  were  stowed 
away  in  places  of  concealment  that  had 
been  previously  prepared.  One  of  these 
was  underneath  the  platform  where  the 
teacher's  desk  stood.  Another  was  a 
recess  made  behind  a  blackboard,  which 
was  taken  off  for  the  purpose  and  then 
screwed  carefully  in  place.  For  nearly 
two  weeks  this  treasure,  amounting  to 
over  a  million  dollars,  lay  unsuspected  in 
the  school-house,  the  teacher  walking 
over  a  part  of  it,  the  children  working 
out  their  sums  on  the  blackboard  which 
concealed  another  part.  It  was  left  there 
so  long  because  the  robbers  were  unable 
43 


True  Detective  Stories 

to  return  for  it,  owing  to  the  strict  watch 
for  strangers  that  was  kept  at  the  rail- 
way-station and  along  all  the  roads. 
Finally  Scott  bought  a  team  of  horses 
for  nine  hundred  dollars,  and,  with  Jim 
Brady,  drove  over  to  Northampton  from 
Springfield.  After  securing  the  booty, 
they  had  serious  trouble  in  getting  away. 
Brady  fell  into  the  mill-race,  which  they 
were  crossing  on  the  ice,  and  this  accident 
necessitated  their  camping  out  all  night 
in  a  cabin  in  the  woods. 

After  hearing  Evans's  story,  the  ques- 
tion foremost  in  Mr.  Pinkerton's  mind 
was  where  the  stolen  securities  had  been 
concealed.  From  what  Evans  said,  and 
from  what  he  knew  himself  about  the 
methods  of  the  gang,  he  was  satisfied 
that  Dunlap  possessed  this  secret,  and 
would  intrust  it  to  no  one  unless  abso- 
lutely compelled  to  do  so.  The  likeliest 
way  of  compelling  him  was  to  put  him 
under  arrest,  which  might  very  well  be 
done  now  that  Evans  had  consented  to 
44 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

turn  State's  evidence.  For  weeks  Pin- 
kerton  "  shadows "  had  never  been  off 
Scott  and  Dunlap,  who  spent  most  of  their 
time  in  New  York,  the  former  living  with 
his  wife  at  a  fashionable  boarding-house 
in  Washington  Square. 

Instructions  were  accordingly  given  to 
the  "  shadows  "  to  close  in  upon  them, 
and  on  February  14,  1877,  both  men 
were  arrested  in  Philadelphia,  as  they 
were  on  the  point  of  taking  a  train  for 
the  South. 

Despite  the  large  sum  of  securities  in 
their  possession,  the  men  had  run  short 
of  ready  money,  and,  while  awaiting  a 
compromise,  were  starting  out  to  commit 
another  robbery.  They  were  taken  to 
Northampton,  and  committed  to  jail  to 
await  trial. 

It  happened  as  Mr.  Pinkerton  foresaw. 
Brought  into  confinement,  Dunlap  and 
Scott  were  compelled,  in  the  conduct  of 
their  affairs,  to  reveal  the  hiding-place 
of  the  booty  to  some  other  member  of 
45 


True  Detective  Stories 

the  gang.  They  chose  for  their  confi- 
dant "Red"  Leary.  The  securities,  as 
subsequently  transpired,  were  at  this 
time  buried  in  a  cellar  on  Sixth  Avenue, 
near  Thirty-third  Street,  New  York. 
The  precise  spot  was  indicated  to  Leary 
by  Mrs.  Scott,  who,  in  doing  so,  reminded 
Leary  of  an  agreement  entered  into  by 
the  members  of  the  gang  before  the  rob- 
bery, that  any  one  of  their  number  who 
might  get  into  trouble  could,  if  he  saw 
a  necessity,  call  upon  his  confederates  to 
dispose  of  all  the  securities  on  whatever 
terms  were  possible  and  use  the  proceeds 
in  getting  him  and  others — if  others  were 
in  trouble  also — free.  At  the  time  Leary 
scoffed  at  this  agreement,  but  was  per- 
fectly willing,  even  eager,  to  have  it  en- 
forced a  little  later,  when,  by  the  orders 
of  Inspector  Byrnes,  he  was  himself  ar- 
rested on  the  charge  of  complicity  in 
the  memorable  Manhattan  Bank  robbery, 
which  had  occurred  some  time  before. 
Having  failed  in  a  purpose  of  "  shadow- 
46 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

ing  "  Leary  to  the  place  where  the  secur- 
ities were  hidden,  Robert  Pinkerton 
decided  that  the  best  move  to  make 
next  would  be  to  arrest  Leary  for  com- 
plicity in  the  Northampton  robbery. 
Steps  were  taken  to  have  requisition 
papers  prepared,  and  it  was  pending  the 
arrival  of  these  that  Leary  was  held  on 
the  other  charge,  for  it  was  not  thought 
that  he  had  really  taken  part  in  the  Man- 
hattan Bank  robbery. 

The  criminal  annals  of  the  United 
States  contain  no  more  thrilling  chapter 
than  that  of  the  adventures  of  "  Red  " 
Leary.  He  was  a  typical  desperado  in 
appearance,  with  his  shock  of  red  hair, 
and  his  bristling  red  mustache,  and  his 
ugly,  heavy-jawed  face,  while  his  huge 
neck  and  shoulders,  his  big  head,  and 
powerful  hairy  hands  impressed  one  with 
his  enormous  physical  strength.  He 
weighed  nearly  three  hundred  pounds, 
and  his  "  pals  "  used  to  point  with  pride 
to  the  fact  that  he  wore  a  bigger  hat  than 
47 


True  Detective  Stories 

any  statesman  in  America  —  eight  and  a 
quarter. 

While  much  of  Leary's  life  had  been 
spent  in  deeds  of  violence,  he  had  shown 
on  occasions  such  splendid  bravery,  and 
even  heroism,  as  almost  atoned  for  his 
crimes.  There  are  few  soldiers  who 
would  not  be  proud  of  Leary's  record  on 
the  battle-field.  He  was  among  the  first 
to  respond  to  his  country's  call  in  our 
own  Civil  War,  being  a  volunteer  in  the 
First  Kentucky  Regiment  under  Colonel 
Guthrie,  and  he  was  a  good  soldier  from 
the  time  of  his  enlistment  up  to  the  mo- 
ment of  his  honorable  discharge. 

The  ablest  lawyers  were  now  secured  in 
his  defense,  and  by  every  possible  method 
of  legal  obstruction  they  kept  alive  a  con- 
troversy in  the  New  York  courts  until 
the  early  days  of  May,  1 879.  Meanwhile 
Leary  reposed  in  Ludlow  Street  Jail, 
where  he  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  ever 
accorded  to  prisoners.  In  return  he 
paid  the  warden  the  substantial  sum  of 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

thirty  dollars  a  week ;  and  it  was  evident 
that,  whether  he  had  or  had  not  been 
concerned  in  the  Northampton  robbery, 
he  had  in  some  way  obtained  abundant 
money.  He  was  visited  constantly  by 
his  wife. 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  7  Mrs.  Leary 
called  at  about  five  o'clock  with  "  Butch  " 
McCarthy,  and  the  three  were  alone  in 
Leary 's  room  until  nearly  eight  o'clock. 
After  that  Leary  strolled  about  in  the 
prison  inclosure,  and  at  about  a  quarter 
past  ten  keeper  Wendell,  who  had  charge 
of  the  first  tier,  in  which  Leary's  room 
was  located,  saw  him  going  up-stairs  from 
the  second  to  the  third  tier.  Although 
in  this  Leary  was  going  directly  away 
from  his  own  room,  there  was  nothing  to 
excite  surprise,  for  Leary  had  been  ac- 
customed to  use  the  bath-room  on  the 
third  tier.  A  quarter  of  an  hour  later 
Wendell  started  on  his  rounds,  according 
to  the  prison  rule,  to  see  that  each  one 
of  the  men  in  his  tier  was  securely  locked 
49 


True  Detective  Stories 

up  for  the  night.  When  he  came  to 
Leary's  room  he  was  a  little  surprised  to 
find  him  still  absent,  but  supposed  he 
would  be  there  shortly.  But  after  wait- 
ing a  few  minutes  and  finding  Leary  still 
absent,  the  keeper  became  alarmed,  and 
began  a  search.  He  first  went  to  the 
bath-room,  and  not  finding  Leary  there, 
searched  in  other  places,  high  and  low. 
Then  he  returned  to  the  bath-room,  and 
there  made  a  discovery  which  filled  him 
with  consternation.  He  saw  in  the  brick 
wall,  what  at  first  had  escaped  his  atten- 
tion, a  gaping  hole,  large  enough  to  allow 
the  passage  of  a  man's  body.  The  hole 
opened  into  a  tunnel  that  seemed  to  lead 
downward.  The  alarm  was  at  once  given, 
and  it  soon  appeared  that  the  keeper's 
fears  were  only  too  well  founded.  "  Red  " 
Leary  had  escaped. 

It  was  found  that  the  tunnel  from  the 
bath-room  led  into  a  room  on  the  fifth 
floor  of  a  tenement-house  at  No.  76 
Ludlow  Street,  adjoining  the  jail.  The 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

wall  of  the  house  added  to  the  wall  of 
the  jail  made  a  thickness  of  four  feet  and 
a  half  of  solid  masonry,  which  had  been 
cut  through.  In  the  three  rooms  that 
had  been  rented  in  the  house  by  Leary's 
friends  were  found  abundant  evidences 
of  the  work. 

Leary,  after  his  escape,  fled  to  Europe, 
but  was  afterward  arrested  in  Brooklyn 
by  Robert  Pinkerton  and  three  of  his  men, 
who  "  held  him  up  "  in  a  sleigh  at  the 
corner  of  Twenty-seventh  Street  and 
Fourth  Avenue,  Brooklyn;  and  before 
Leary  could  make  use  of  a  large  revolver 
which  he  had  on  his  person,  the  horse 
was  grabbed  by  the  head  and  pulled  to 
a  standstill,  and  Leary  was  dragged  out 
of  the  sleigh  and  handcuffed.  He  was 
taken  immediately  to  Northampton,  and 
put  in  jail  there. 

Some  time  previous  to  this  the  Pinker- 
tons  had  located  Conroy,  who  had  also 
escaped  from  Ludlow  Street  Jail,  in  Phila- 
delphia; and  immediately  on  the  arrest 
5* 


True  Detective  Stories 

of  Leary,  Robert  Pinkerton  sent  one  of 
his  detectives  from  New  York  to  Phila- 
delphia, who  was  fortunate  enough  to 
arrest  Conroy  at  one  of  his  resorts  on 
the  same  night,  and  he  was  also  delivered 
in  jail  at  Northampton. 

Some  months  previous  to  this  the 
Pinkertons  had  also  arrested  Thomas 
Doty,  another  member  of  the  band,  and 
lodged  him  in  the  Northampton  jail. 

In  the  mean  time,  Scott  and  Dunlap, 
now  in  State  prison,  had  made  a  confes- 
sion as  against  Leary,  the  holder  of  the 
securities ;  and  when  Leary  was  brought 
to  Northampton,  they  wrote  him  a  letter, 
notifying  him  that  unless  the  securities 
were  handed  over  to  their  proper  owners, 
they  would  take  the  witness-stand  against 
him  and  convict  him,  but  that  if  he  did 
turn  over  the  necessary  securities  they 
would  refuse  to  take  the  stand.  This 
resulted  in  the  recovery  by  the  North- 
ampton Bank  of  nearly  all  the  securities 
stolen  from  the  bank  and  its  depositors, 
52 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

this  not  including,  however,  the  govern- 
ment bonds  and  currency  stolen  at  the 
time.  Some  of  these  securities  had  de- 
preciated in  value  upward  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  since  they  were 
stolen.  The  amount  of  the  securities  re- 
covered represented  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars ;  they  had  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  thieves  upward  of  two  years. 

After  the  securities  were  returned, 
Scott  and  Dunlap  refusing  to  take  the 
stand  against  Leary  and  Doty,  the  author- 
ities were  eventually  obliged  to  release 
them,  as  Evans  had  also  refused  to  take 
the  stand  against  them.  Conroy,  who 
had  simply  been  a  go-between,  and  not 
an  actual  participant  in  the  robbery,  was 
released  at  the  same  time  by  order  of 
the  court. 

The  trial  of  Scott  and  Dunlap  took 
place  at  Northampton  in  July,  1877,  a 
year  and  a  half  after  the  robbery.  Evans 
took  the  stand  against  them,  his  evidence 
making  the  case  of  the  prosecution  over- 
53 


True  Detective  Stories 

whelmingly  strong.  After  three  hours' 
deliberation  the  jury  brought  in  a  ver- 
dict of  guilty,  and  the  prisoners  were 
sentenced  to  twenty  years  each  in  the 
State  prison.  Scott  died  in  prison,  and 
Dunlap,  having  been  pardoned  several 
years  ago,  is  now  living  in  a  Western  city, 
a  reformed  man,  and  is  earning  an  honest 
living.  As  far  as  is  known,  since  leaving 
the  penitentiary  he  has  never  returned 
to  his  evil  ways.  Conroy  also  has  taken 
to  new  ways,  is  honest,  and  is  generally 
respected  by  all  who  know  him. 

"  Red  "  Leary  came  to  his  death  in  a 
curious  way.  One  night  in  April,  1888, 
he  had  been  drinking  with  some  friends 
at  a  well-known  sporting- resort  in  New 
York,  on  Sixth  Avenue,  between  Twenty- 
seventh  and  Twenty-eighth  streets.  In 
the  party  was  "  Billy "  Train,  an  old 
bunko-man.  They  were  all  somewhat 
intoxicated  and  inclined  to  be  uproarious. 
As  they  came  out  on  the  street,  "  Billy  " 
Train  picked  up  a  brick  and  threw  it  up 
54 


The  Northampton  Bank  Robbery 

in  the  air,  yelling :  "  Look  out  for  your 
heads,  boys."  To  this  warning  Leary 
paid  no  attention,  and  the  brick  came 
down  on  his  head  with  full  force,  fractur- 
ing his  skull.  He  was  taken  to  the  New 
York  Hospital,  and  died  there,  after  much 
suffering,  on  April  23. 

As  for  the  safe- expert,  Evans,  he  is 
engaged  in  legitimate  business,  and  is 
prospering.  In  compiling  this  chapter 
from  the  records,  the  writer  has,  by  re- 
quest, changed  some  of  the  names  of  the 
parties,  who  since  that  time  have  reformed, 
and  are  now  respected  members  in  the 
communities  where  they  reside,  and  the 
author  has  no  desire  to  injure  them. 


The  Susquehanna  Express 
Robbery 


The  Susquehanna  Express 
Robbery 


AT  Susquehanna,  Pennsylvania,  are 
•**-  located  the  great  shops  of  the  Erie 
Railroad,  where  fifteen  hundred  men 
work  throughout  the  year.  These  men 
receive  their  wages  on  a  fixed  day  toward 
the  end  of  each  month,  the  pay-roll 
amounting  to  many  thousands  of  dollars. 
It  was  customary,  fourteen  years  ago, 
for  the  company  to  have  a  sum  of  money 
sufficient  for  this  purpose  shipped  from 
New  York  by  express  a  day  or  two  be- 
fore the  date  when  the  wages  were  to 
be  paid.  Following  out  this  practice,  on 
the  night  of  June  20,  1883,  the  Marine 
59 


True  Detective  Stories 

National  Bank  of  New  York  shipped  by 
the  United  States  Express  Company  a 
sealed  package  containing  forty  thousand 
dollars  for  the  Erie  Railroad  Company, 
in  care  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Susquehanna.  The  package  contained 
United  States  currency  and  bank-notes, 
almost  entirely  in  small  bills,  none  larger 
than  twenty  dollars. 

The  usual  precautions  were  observed 
in  shipment,  a  trusted  clerk  of  the  Marine 
Bank  carrying  the  package  to  the  express 
company's  office  and  taking  a  receipt  for 
it  from  the  money-clerk,  who  examined 
it  first  to  make  sure  that  the  seals  of  the 
bank  were  intact  and  that  in  all  respects 
it  presented  a  correct  appearance.  Hav- 
ing satisfied  himself  on  these  points,  the 
money-clerk  placed  the  package  in  one 
of  the  canvas  pouches  used  by  the  United 
States  Express  Company,  sealed  it  care- 
fully with  the  company's  private  seal, 
and  attached  a  tag  bearing  the  address 
of  the  company's  agent  at  Susquehanna. 
60 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

After  a  brief  delay  the  pouch  was  de- 
livered to  express  messenger  Van  Wag- 
anen,  who  saw  it  placed  in  one  of  the 
small  iron  safes  used  by  express  com- 
panies in  conveying  money  from  city  to 
city.  The  messenger  rode  with  the  safe 
to  the  train,  and  then  remained  on  guard 
in  the  express- car,  where  the  safe  was 
placed,  as  far  as  Susquehanna,  at  which 
point  he  delivered  the  pouch  to  Dwight 
Chamberlain,  a  night-clerk  and  watchman 
in  the  joint  employ  of  the  Erie  Railroad 
and  the  United  States  Express  Company. 
The  train  left  New  York  at  6  P.  M.,  and 
reached  Susquehanna  about  midnight. 

Watchman  Chamberlain,  having  re- 
ceived the  pouch  at  the  station,  carried 
it  into  the  ticket-office  and  locked  it  in- 
side a  safe  belonging  to  the  Erie  Railroad 
Company.  He  remained  on  duty  the 
rest  of  the  night,  and  at  seven  o'clock 
the  next  morning  a  messenger  from  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Susquehanna 
came  to  get  the  package.  Chamberlain 
61 


True  Detective  Stories 

unlocked  the  safe,  took  out  the  pouch, 
opened  it,  and  then  emptied  its  contents 
on  the  table.  To  his  great  surprise  the 
package  containing  the  forty  thousand 
dollars  was  gone,  and  in  its  place  were 
several  bundles  of  manila  paper  cut  to 
the  size  of  bank-bills  and  done  up  in 
small  packages  as  money  is  done  up. 

The  agent  of  the  company,  Clark 
Evans,  was  immediately  notified,  and  he 
at  once  telegraphed  the  news  of  the  rob- 
bery to  the  officials  of  the  United  States 
Express  Company  in  New  York,  who 
with  very  little  delay  placed  the  matter 
in  the  hands  of  the  Pinkerton  Detective 
Agency.  The  direct  supervision  of  the 
work  was  undertaken  by  the  late  George 
H.  Bangs,  at  that  time  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  Pinkerton  Agency,  and  a 
force  of  detectives  at  once  started  for 
Susquehanna. 

An  important  discovery  was  made  on 
closer  examination  of  the  pouch.  It  was 
found  that  this  pouch  was  not  the  one 
62 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

that  had  been  sealed  up  in  the  express 
office  at  New  York,  but  a  bogus  pouch, 
so  much  like  the  other  that  the  change 
might  easily  have  escaped  notice.  The 
chief  points  of  difference  were  the  tag 
and  the  seal,  the  former  having  been  ad- 
dressed in  a  different  hand  from  that 
of  the  New  York  money-clerk,  and  the 
latter  being  an  old  seal  not  in  use  by  the 
company  at  that  time.  But  the  general 
appearance  of  the  pouch  was  such  that 
neither  the  messenger,  Van  Waganen,  nor 
the  watchman,  Chamberlain,  could  swear 
that  it  was  not  the  one  that  he  had 
handled. 

After  going  over  the  ground  carefully 
and  cross-examining  Van  Waganen  and 
Chamberlain,  Superintendent  Bangs  con- 
cluded that  the  robbery  had  not  been 
committed  on  the  train  and  that  the 
genuine  money  package  had  reached 
Susquehanna  and  been  locked  in  the 
railroad  company's  safe  by  the  night- 
clerk.  He  was  strengthened  in  this  con- 

63 


True  Detective  Stories 

elusion  by  the  statement  of  Chamberlain, 
who  admitted  that,  after  locking  up  the 
money,  he  had  only  been  in  the  ticket- 
office  at  intervals  during  the  night.  For 
this  he  was  in  no  way  to  blame,  as  he 
had  other  duties  to  perform  about  the 
station,  notably  those  of  way-bill  clerk. 
Thus  the  robbers  would  have  had  full 
opportunity  to  approach  the  safe  unob- 
served and  exercise  their  skill  upon  it, 
could  they  have  secured  entrance  to  the 
ticket-office.  Nor  was  this  a  difficult 
matter,  since  the  door  leading  into  it  was 
known  to  have  three  keys,  in  the  hands 
of  various  employees  of  the  road,  from 
whom  they  might  have  been  procured 
or  stolen.  More  important  still  was  the 
fact,  ascertained  by  Mr.  Bangs,  that  the 
safe  itself  had  three  keys,  intrusted  to  as 
many  men,  whose  duties  required  them 
to  have  access  to  the  safe.  It  subse- 
quently transpired  that  two  of  these  keys 
had  been  made  by  the  men  who  carried 
them,  for  their  own  convenience  and 
64 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

without  the  knowledge  of  their  superiors. 
The  door  leading  into  the  ticket-office 
opened  from  the  men's  waiting-room, 
where  people  had  been  coming  and  going 
during  the  entire  night  of  the  robbery. 
Such  of  these  people  as  could  be  found 
were  questioned  closely  as  to  what  they 
had  observed  on  this  night,  but  they 
could  furnish  no  information  that  threw 
light  upon  the  case. 

Some  significance  was  found  in  the 
coincidence  that  nine  years  before  there 
had  been  a  robbery  at  Susquehanna,  in 
which  thirty  thousand  dollars  had  been 
stolen  from  the  express  company's  safe. 
The  Pinkertons  knew  that  for  years  a 
band  of  professional  thieves  had  been 
traveling  through  the  country,  operating 
on  safes  that  could  be  opened  with  a  key. 
Among  them  were  experts  in  fitting  locks, 
especially  skilled  in  making  keys  from 
impressions,  and  known  as  professional 
"  fitters."  At  first  it  was  considered 
possible  that  the  robbery  had  been  com- 

65 


True  Detective  Stones 

mitted  by  these  men ;  but,  after  the  most 
careful  search  and  inquiry,  Superinten- 
dent Bangs  concluded  that  this  was  not 
the  case  and  that  the  pouch  had  been 
stolen  by  some  person  or  persons  resident 
in  Susquehanna,  presumably  by  one  or 
more  of  the  railroad  employees  who  had 
access  to  the  office,  or  by  persons  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  some  of  the  men 
who  had  keys  to  the  safe. 

"  Shadows  "  were  put  on  all  persons 
who  might  have  had  access  to  the  ticket- 
office  and  the  safe;  but,  although  this 
was  continued  for  weeks,  nothing  con- 
clusive came  to  light. 

About  this  time  a  reorganization  of 
the  Pinkerton  Agency  became  necessary, 
through  the  death  of  Allan  Pinkerton, 
the  founder,  and  George  H.  Bangs,  the 
general  superintendent;  and  Robert 
Pinkerton  assumed  charge  of  the  investi- 
gation at  Susquehanna.  He  undertook 
the  difficult  task  of  picking  out  one  guilty 
man  (or  possibly  two  or  three)  from  a 
66 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

body  of  fifteen  hundred  workmen.  For, 
despite  lack  of  evidence  either  way,  there 
was  no  doubt  in  the  detective's  mind  that 
the  money  had  been  taken  by  some  of 
the  employees  of  either  the  express  or 
the  railroad  company.  Pinkerton  men 
were  taken  to  Susquehanna  and  given 
employment  in  various  positions  for  the 
railroad  and  express  companies,  their 
duty  being  to  make  friends  and  hear 
gossip,  and,  if  possible,  in  an  unguarded 
moment,  at  some  saloon  or  boarding- 
house,  or  perhaps  at  the  chatty  noon 
hour  in  the  works,  secure  some  im- 
portant secret.  Other  detectives  came 
with  money  in  their  pockets,  and,  under 
the  guise  of  sporting  men,  made  them- 
selves popular  at  resorts  where  a  poor 
man  come  dishonestly  and  suddenly  into 
money  would  be  apt  to  spend  it. 

Day  after  day,  month  after  month,  the 
watch  was  continued  from  many  points 
of  view,  the  conversations  of  hundreds 
of  workmen  were  carefully  noted,  the 


True  Detective  Stones 

gambling-houses  and  their  inmates  were 
kept  under  constant  scrutiny,  the  lives 
of  this  man  and  that  man  and  scores  of 
men  were  turned  inside  out,  and  all  with- 
out any  one  in  Susquehanna  suspecting 
it,  the  general  opinion  being  that  the 
robbery  had  been  put  aside  along  with 
many  other  unsolved  mysteries. 

A  whole  year  passed  before  any  prom- 
ise of  success  came  to  cheer  the  express 
company  and  the  patient  detectives.  In 
the  summer  of  1884,  Robert  Pinkerton, 
having  received  information  that  a  pro- 
fessional burglar,  who  had  been  arrested 
some  weeks  previous  for  a  burglary  at 
Milwaukee,  had  valuable  information 
about  an  express  robbery,  immediately 
journeyed  from  New  York  to  Milwaukee 
to  interview  the  man.  He  learned  from 
the  burglar  that  some  years  before  he 
had  operated  with  a  man  named  John 
Donahue;  that  about  the  time  of  the 
Susquehanna  robbery  Donahue  had  been 
away  from  home,  and  that  shortly  after 
68 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

the  robbery  he  had  returned  with  plenty 
of  money  and  paid  off  several  old  debts, 
Mr.  Pinkerton  at  once  recognized  in 
Donahue  a  notorious  thief  who,  to  escape 
justice,  had  taken  up  his  residence  at 
Fort  Erie,  Canada,  where  he  had  opened 
a  hotel. 

The  burglar  also  gave  Mr.  Pinkerton 
a  description  of  a  man  who  had  visited 
Donahue  at  his  hotel  on  several  occasions, 
and  who  had  the  general  appearance  of 
a  workman.  He  suspected  that  this  man 
had  been  in  some  way  concerned  with 
Donahue  in  the  Susquehanna  robbery ; 
he  knew  that  he  had  resided  at  one  time 
in  Buffalo,  New  York,  and  worked  in 
the  shops  there,  and  he  thought  that  he 
might  be  then  living  in  Susquehanna, 
Pennsylvania. 

From  the  description,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
was  able,  on  going  to  Susquehanna,  to 
identify  the  suspected  man  with  one 
George  H.  Proctor,  who  had  formerly 
been  foreman  in  the  railroad  company's 

69 


True  Detective  Stories 

shops,  but  had  resigned  his  position 
months  before  and  moved  to  Buffalo. 
In  the  investigation  that  was  at  once 
begun  it  was  found  that  Proctor  had  re- 
cently been  speculating  largely  in  oil 
and  spending  money  freely,  although 
while  living  in  Susquehanna  he  was  known 
to  have  had  no  resources  besides  his  salary. 
It  was  learned  further  that  Proctor  had 
deposited  money  with  three  Buffalo  banks 
and  had  accounts  with  various  firms  of 
brokers,  and  also  that  he  was  paying  fre- 
quent visits  to  gambling-houses  and  in 
general  leading  a  fast  life.  Proctor's  de- 
posits, it  was  learned,  had  at  one  time 
amounted  to  about  eleven  thousand 
dollars,  but  most  of  this  sum  had  been 
subsequently  drawn  out  and  lost  in 
speculation. 

All  of  this  was  strong  presumptive 
evidence  against  a  man  who  was  known 
to  have  been  poor  a  few  months  before, 
and  a  more  significant  discovery  was 
made  a  little  later,  when  Proctor  went 
70 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

on  a  trip  to  Canada,  evidently  on  impor- 
tant business.  The  detective  who  fol- 
lowed him  found  that  the  men  with 
whom  he  had  dealings,  and  with  whom 
he  passed  nearly  the  whole  time  of  his 
visit,  were  professional  thieves,  well 
known  to  the  police. 

In  view  of  all  that  had  come  to  light, 
it  was  decided  to  effect  Proctor's  arrest. 
This  was  made  easy  by  his  habit  of  com- 
ing to  Susquehanna  every  few  weeks  to 
see  his  wife  and  three  children,  who  had 
remained  there.  During  these  visits  it 
had  been  remarked  that  he  was  especially 
intimate  with  employees  of  the  railroad 
and  express  companies  who  were  con- 
nected with  the  ticket- office. 

All  unsuspicious  of  the  danger  that 
threatened  him,  Proctor  took  the  train 
from  Buffalo  on  the  night  of  Saturday, 
November  16,  with  a  ticket  for  Susque- 
hanna. Word  was  at  once  telegraphed 
to  Robert  Pinkerton,  who,  in  company 
with  E.  W.  Mitchel,  superintendent  of 
71 


True  Detective  Stories 

the  United  States  Express  Company, 
started  for  Susquehanna,  reaching  there 
Monday  morning.  They  learned  that 
Proctor  was  still  in  town,  but  keeping 
very  closely  to  his  house.  It  was  not 
until  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  that  he 
appeared  on  the  street,  his  purpose  in 
going  out  being  to  purchase  some  gro- 
ceries. As  he  came  from  the  store  Robert 
Pinkerton  stepped  forth  from  his  place 
of  waiting  and  took  him  into  custody. 
He  was  taken  to  a  private  house,  where 
Mr.  Pinkerton  passed  nearly  the  whole 
night  in  conversation  with  him.  Before 
daylight  Proctor  had  made  what  pur- 
ported to  be  a  full  confession. 

Proctor  stated  that  he  had  moved  to 
Susquehanna  in  1880,  having  resided  in 
Buffalo  previous  to  that  time.  While  in 
Buffalo  he  had  occasionally  of  a  Sunday 
visited  Fort  Erie,  Canada,  and  there 
had  made  the  acquaintance  of  John 
Donahue.  At  first  he  did  not  know  that 
Donahue  was  anything  more  than  the 
72 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

keeper  of  a  hotel.  He  found  him  an 
entertaining  companion,  a  good  story- 
teller and  singer  of  comic  songs,  and 
very  generous  with  his  money.  They 
came  to  see  much  of  each  other,  and 
after  Proctor's  removal  to  Susquehanna 
they  kept  up  an  occasional  correspon- 
dence. Proctor,  having  a  monthly  pass 
over  the  Erie  Railroad,  and  being  able 
to  procure  passes  on  other  roads,  made 
several  trips  to  Fort  Erie,  always  stop- 
ping at  Donahue's  hotel.  On  one  of 
these  visits  he  chanced  to  read  aloud  to 
his  friend  the  newspaper  account  of  a 
clever  robbery  in  Montreal,  where  a 
band  of  sneak-thieves  had  robbed  a  pay- 
master of  a  sum  of  money  he  had  in  a 
bag  to  pay  off  employees.  This  turned 
the  conversation  to  criminal  exploits,  and 
Proctor  related  the  circumstances  of  the 
express  robbery  at  Susquehanna  some 
years  before.  Donahue  showed  great 
interest,  and  inquired  how  it  happened 
that  the  express  company  had  so  large  a 
73 


True  Detective  Stories 

sum  of  money  at  Susquehanna.  Proctor 
explained  about  the  extensive  railroad 
shops  there,  and  incidentally  remarked 
that  the  same  system  of  paying  the  hands 
was  still  in  practice.  Donahue  then  re- 
quested Proctor  to  ascertain  for  him  how 
much  money  was  being  shipped  each 
month  at  that  time,  the  day  of  shipment, 
the  train,  the  kind  of  safe  used  on  that 
train,  and  full  details  about  the  lock — 
whether  opened  by  a  combination  or  a 
key.  Donahue  professed  that  his  only 
motive  in  seeking  this  information  was 
curiosity,  and  Proctor  promised  to  learn 
what  he  could. 

It  was  about  a  fortnight  after  this  that 
the  two  men  met  again,  Proctor  having 
secured  all  the  facts  about  the  monthly 
transfer  of  money  from  New  York  to 
Susquehanna.  These  he  confided  to 
Donahue,  who  seemed  greatly  pleased 
at  the  report.  He  showed  Proctor  the 
greatest  attention,  spending  money  freely. 
Then  he  pressed  Proctor  with  further 
74 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

questions,  asking  how  the  money  was 
wrapped  up,  what  kind  of  pouch  it  was 
carried  in,  and  so  on.  Finally  he  came 
out  bluntly  with  the  opinion  that  Proctor 
was  a  fool  to  waste  his  time  working  in 
a  dirty  shop  when  he  might  be  living  in 
luxury.  Then,  seeing  that  the  foreman 
took  no  great  umbrage  at  this  suggestion, 
he  asked  him  if  he  could  get  an  impres- 
sion of  the  safe-key,  and  also  one  of  the 
key  to  the  door  of  the  ticket-office. 
After  some  show  of  reluctance,  Proctor 
finally  consented  to  try. 

Returning  to  Susquehanna,  Proctor 
took  advantage  of  his  friendship  with 
employees  about  the  ticket-office  to  get 
possession  of  the  keys  long  enough  to 
take  the  desired  impressions,  and  these 
he  mailed  to  Donahue,  in  whose  service 
he  was  now  fully  enlisted.  Donahue 
wrote  back,  expressing  satisfaction,  and 
saying  that  he  and  another  man,  named 
Collins,  had  paid  a  secret  visit  to  Susque- 
hanna, and  had  found  everything  as 
75 


True  Detective  Stories 

Proctor  had  represented.  A  little  later 
Proctor  went  to  Canada  again,  and  was 
introduced  to  Collins.  At  this  meeting 
it  was  arranged  that  Donahue  should 
procure  a  canvas  bag  like  the  one  used 
by  the  express  company,  and  that  a 
dummy  money  package  should  be  placed 
inside,  so  that  a  substitution  might  be 
effected  on  the  arrival  of  the  next  ship- 
ment. Proctor  was  to  take  no  active 
part  in  the  robbery,  but  was  instructed 
to  return  home  and  continue  at  his  work, 
showing  no  concern,  whatever  happened. 

"  If  there  's  an  earthquake  at  Susque- 
hanna  when  pay-day  comes  around,  you 
don't  know  anything  about  it,  do  you 
understand  ?  "  Such  was  the  final  order 
given  to  Proctor,  and  he  obeyed  it  im- 
plicitly. 

A  month  passed,  and,  hearing  nothing, 
Proctor  went  to  Canada  again,  and  had 
another  talk  with  his  two  confederates. 
They  told  him  that  they  had  gone  to 
Susquehanna  prepared  to  do  the  "  job," 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

but  had  learned,  accidentally,  that  the 
money  that  month  had  been  sent  in  gold, 
which  would  have  been  too  heavy  for 
them  to  carry  away,  and  they  had  there- 
fore decided  to  wait  until  a  month  later. 

This  was  in  May,  and  the  following 
month  the  robbery  occurred.  Two  weeks 
later  Proctor  went  to  Canada,  and  re- 
ceived eleven  thousand  dollars  as  his 
share  of  the  plunder.  Donahue  and 
Collins  explained  to  him  that  he  did  not 
receive  more  because  they  had  been 
obliged  to  give  a  fourth  share  to  another 
man  who  had  worked  with  them.  They 
cautioned  him  not  to  spend  a  dollar  of 
the  stolen  money  for  months  to  come,  as 
the  detectives  would  be  always  on  the 
lookout  for  suspicious  circumstances. 
They  also  advised  him  to  continue  at  his 
work,  under  no  circumstances  giving  up 
his  position  within  a  year. 

Proctor  had  strictly  followed  these 
suggestions,  living  and  working  as  he 
had  done  before  the  robbery,  and  not 
77 


True  Detective  Stories 

spending  any  part  of  his  portion.  Hav- 
ing changed  the  money  into  large  bills 
and  sealed  it  up  in  a  fruit-jar,  so  that  the 
moisture  could  not  injure  it,  he  buried 
the  jar  head  downward  in  his  garden. 
There  it  remained  untouched  for  months. 
But  when  the  severe  weather  of  the 
following  winter  set  in,  he  dug  up  the 
jar,  and  taking  the  money  to  Buffalo, 
deposited  it  in  three  banks,  in  the  name 
of  his  wife  and  his  three  children,  with 
himself  in  each  instance  as  trustee. 

Although  his  trade  became  very  irk- 
some to  him  now  that  he  had  a  small 
fortune  in  his  possession,  he  prudently 
stuck  to  it  until  June,  1884.  Then,  a 
year  having  elapsed  since  the  robbery, 
he  decided  that  it  would  be  safe  for  him 
to  launch  out  into  a  pleasanter  life.  He 
accordingly  went  to  Buffalo,  where  he 
entered  into  oil  speculations  with  a  friend 
who  claimed  to  have  "  inside  informa- 
tion "  from  the  Standard  Oil  Company. 
Although  fortunate  at  the  start,  the  fail- 
78 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

ure  of  Grant  &  Ward  brought  them  heavy 
losses,  and  soon  their  profits  and  their 
original  capital  were  swept  away.  Proc- 
tor assured  Mr.  Pinkerton  that,  at  the  time 
of  their  talk,  he  was  ruined,  and  that 
he  had  intended,  during  this  very  visit 
to  Susquehanna  which  ended  in  his 
arrest,  making  application  for  his  old 
position  as  foreman  of  the  boiler-shops. 

Having  heard  Proctor's  confession,  Mr. 
Pinkerton  took  counsel  with  the  officers 
of  the  express  company.  They,  believ- 
ing that  Proctor  had  been  only  a  tool  in 
the  hands  of  two  smart  professional 
criminals,  agreed  with  the  detective  that 
the  ends  of  justice  demanded  rather  the 
apprehension  of  his  confederates  than  his 
punishment  alone.  Proctor  professed 
great  penitence  for  his  wrong-doing,  and 
declared  himself  willing  to  do  whatever 
was  in  his  power  to  make  amends. 

The  first  step  necessary  to  the  capture 
of  Donahue  and  Collins  was  to  get  them 
both  into  the  United  States  at  some  point 
79 


True  Detective  Stories 

where  they  could  be  arrested  at  the  same 
time.  Donahue  was  still  in  Canada, 
where  he  could  not  be  taken.  Mr. 
Pinkerton  arranged  with  Proctor  to  write 
to  Donahue  that  he  had  discovered  an- 
other safe  which  offered  a  tempting  op- 
portunity, hoping  in  this  way  to  induce 
him  to  cross  the  line  into  the  United 
States.  To  give  color  to  the  story  it 
was  necessary  to  accord  Proctor  apparent 
freedom  of  movement;  but  he  pledged 
himself  not  to  leave  Susquehanna  with- 
out Mr.  Pinkerton's  permission,  and  to 
keep  the  detective  informed  by  letter 
and  telegraph  of  all  developments.  At 
the  same  time  detectives  were  sent  to 
Canada  to  keep  watch  over  Donahue. 

Collins,  in  the  meantime,  had  been 
located  in  Albany,  but  no  attempt  was 
made  to  arrest  him  until  Donahue  could 
be  brought  over  the  line.  Should  he 
cross  without  notifying  Proctor,  the  men 
"  shadowing "  him  were  to  cause  his 
arrest.  It  was  arranged  with  Proctor 
So 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

that,  in  case  his  letter  failed  of  its  pur- 
pose, he  should  go  to  Canada  himself, 
persuade  Donahue  to  send  for  Collins, 
and  then  induce  the  two  to  come  back 
with  him,  when  they  would  be  arrested 
the  moment  they  crossed  the  line. 

On  the  2Qth  of  November  Robert 
Pinkerton  received  word  by  telegraph 
that  Proctor  had  left  Susquehanna  sud- 
denly in  the  night,  telling  the  agent  of 
the  express  company  that  he  would  re- 
turn the  next  day.  This  looked  very 
much  as  if  Proctor  had  played  him  false, 
since  it  had  been  expressly  stipulated 
that  he  should  not  go  away  without  Mr. 
Pinkerton's  permission.  Days  went  by, 
and  Proctor  did  not  return.  Then  word 
came  from  one  of  the  Pinkerton  men  at 
Fort  Erie  that  Proctor  had  arrived  at 
Donahue's  hotel  and  had  been  joined 
there  by  Collins.  This  was  a  serious  set- 
back for  the  detectives.  Not  only  were 
the  three  robbers  safe  from  arrest  where 
they  were,  but  being  fully  aware  of  the 
81 


True  Detective  Stories 

danger  threatening  them,  and  being  men 
of  shrewdness,  it  was  fair  to  presume 
that  they  would  now  move  with  great 
caution. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  Donahue 
and  Collins  were  thoroughly  alarmed  by 
the  news  Proctor  had  brought  them ;  for 
they  at  once  took  energetic  steps  to  mis- 
lead any  one  who  might  be  watching 
them.  Having  retired  as  usual  one  night, 
they  arose  later,  and  drove  in  a  wagon 
to  a  station  on  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad, 
where  they  boarded  a  freight  train  for 
Toronto.  After  a  brief  stay  in  that  city 
they  went  on  to  Montreal,  where  they 
tried  hard  to  lose  themselves,  but  were 
unsuccessful,  and  returned  to  Fort  Erie. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Pinkerton  discovered 
that  the  story  told  him  by  Proctor  was 
entirely  untrue.  So  far  from  having  been 
an  honest  man  before  the  robbery,  it  came 
to  light  that  he  was  already  at  that  time 
a  hardened  criminal,  having  committed 
burglaries  both  in  the  United  States  and 
82 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

Canada,  and  having  been  sentenced, 
under  another  name,  to  a  term  in  the 
Massachusetts  State  prison.  While  in 
prison  he  had  contrived  to  make  keys 
that  would  unlock  his  own  cell  and  those 
of  three  other  prisoners,  and  the  four 
had  thus  made  their  escape.  One  of 
them  was  the  notorious  Charles  Bullard, 
who  was  at  that  time  serving  a  term  of 
twenty  years  for  the  robbery  of  the 
Boylston  Bank  of  Boston.  Proctor  had 
also  offered  the  privilege  of  escape  to 
Scott  and  Dunlap,  the  Northampton 
Bank  robbers,  who  were  confined  in  the 
same  prison,  but  they  had  distrusted  his 
plan,  and  refused  to  avail  themselves  of 
it. 

It  was  now  necessary  for  the  detectives 
to  devise  a  new  plan.  Robert  Pinkerton 
knew  that  some  three  years  earlier  Dona- 
hue had  been  concerned  in  the  robbery 
of  a  bank  at  Winnipeg,  and  also  in  the 
robbery  of  a  hardware  store  at  Quebec. 
His  brother,  William  Pinkerton,  he  also 

83 


True  Detective  Stories 

knew,  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with 
Donahue,  from  having  arrested  him  a 
number  of  years  before.  He  therefore 
sent  for  William  Pinkerton  to  come  to 
New  York  from  Chicago,  and  on  his  ar- 
rival proposed  to  him  that  he  go  to  Fort 
Erie,  get  an  interview  with  Donahue,  and 
tell  him  of  Proctor's  treachery  in  betray- 
ing Collins  and  himself;  impress  upon 
him  that  Proctor  was  a  dangerous  man 
to  have  dealings  with ;  and  try  to  induce 
him  to  lend  his  aid  in  delivering  Proctor 
and  Collins  over  the  line,  just  as  Robert 
Pinkerton  had  sought  to  have  Proctor 
do  in  the  case  of  Donahue  and  Collins. 
Donahue  was  known  as  a  "  stanch  "  man, 
— that  is,  one  who  is  true  to  his  friends, 
— and  it  was  thought  probable  that  he 
would  refuse  to  take  part  in  any  such 
scheme.  But  in  that  event  William  Pin- 
kerton was  to  threaten  him  with  arrest 
for  the  old  robberies  at  Winnipeg  and 
Quebec. 

This  plan  was  carried  out  by  William 
84 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

Pinkerton  with  greater  success  than  had 
been  expected.  At  first  Donahue  stoutly 
refused  to  betray  a  comrade,  but  the 
danger  threatening  himself  was  made  to 
appear  so  great  that  finally,  seeing  no 
other  way  out  of  his  difficulties,  he  con- 
sented to  do  what  was  asked  of  him  in 
regard  to  Proctor.  Against  Collins, 
however,  he  declined  to  give  any  aid. 
By  working  on  Proctor's  natural  fear  of 
arrest,  he  easily  persuaded  him  that  the 
immediate  departure  of  all  three  of  them 
— himself,  Proctor,  and  Collins — for  Eu- 
rope was  advisable.  It  was  arranged 
that  they  should  not  sail  from  Quebec  or 
Halifax,  since  the  steamers  from  those 
points  were  likely  to  be  watched  by  de- 
tectives, but  that  they  should  leave  Fort 
Erie  stealthily  by  night,  make  their  way 
separately  to  Montreal,  and  meet  there. 
This  plan  was  carried  out,  and  within 
a  few  days  the  three  were  in  Montreal, 
all  apparently  of  one  mind  in  their  desire 
to  escape  the  country,  though  in  reality 

85 


True  Detective  Stories 

Proctor  was  the  only  one  of  the  three 
who  thought  himself  in  danger.  Dona- 
hue had  taken  Collins  into  his  confidence, 
and  Collins  was  quite  of  Donahue's  opin- 
ion that  they  were  doing  the  proper  thing 
in  saving  themselves  by  surrendering  a 
man  who  had  shown  himself  willing  to 
betray  them. 

It  had  been  agreed  between  William 
Pinkerton  and  Donahue  that  at  Montreal 
tickets  should  be  purchased  to  Europe 
by  way  of  Portland,  Maine,  and  that  the 
party  should  leave  Montreal  at  a  certain 
time  by  the  Grand  Trunk  road.  The 
line  of  this  road  runs  for  a  number  of 
miles  through  northern  Vermont,  and  it 
was  customary  for  the  train  the  men  were 
to  take  to  wait  over  for  an  hour  at  Island 
Pond,  a  little  place  just  across  the  Ca- 
nadian line.  Here,  as  it  was  arranged, 
Robert  Pinkerton  was  to  be  waiting, 
ready  to  take  Proctor  into  custody,  and 
also  (though  in  this  part  of  the  arrange- 
ment Donahue,  of  course,  was  not  con- 
86 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

suited)  Donahue  and  Collins,  should  they 
be  so  imprudent  as  to  stay  on  the  train 
until  it  crossed  the  line.  To  the  forward- 
ing of  this  latter  end,  indeed,  a  special 
stratagem  was  resorted  to.  Conceiving 
that  Donahue  and  Collins,  in  order  the 
more  completely  to  allay  Proctor's  sus- 
picion, might  remain  with  him  until  the 
last  station  was  reached  on  the  Canadian 
side,  the  detectives  arranged  that  on  this 
particular  night  the  train  should  not  stop 
at  that  station,  but  push  on  at  full  speed 
to  the  American  side. 

On  a  certain  Tuesday  night,  Donahue, 
Collins,  and  Proctor  took  the  10 :  15  P.  M. 
train  at  Montreal  for  Portland.  No  sooner 
had  they  left  the  station  than  a  Pinkerton 
representative,  who  had  "  shadowed  " 
them  aboard,  telegraphed  the  fact  to 
Robert  Pinkerton  at  Island  Pond.  Proc- 
tor went  early  to  his  berth  in  the  sleeper. 
In  another  berth,  not  far  distant,  never 
closing  his  eyes  through  the  night,  but 
lying  there  fully  dressed,  with  weapons 
87 


True  Detective  Stories 

ready,  was  a  Pinkerton  detective,  whose 
instructions  were  to  accompany  the  three 
robbers  as  long  as  they  were  together, 
and  to  stay  with  Proctor  to  the  last. 

It  was  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
when  the  train  drew  up  at  Island 
Pond.  On  the  platform  stood  Robert 
Pinkerton,  carrying  a  requisition  from 
the  governor  of  Pennsylvania  on  the 
governor  of  Vermont  for  the  arrest  of 
Donahue,  Collins,  and  Proctor,  charged 
with  robbing  the  United  States  Express 
Company  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  at 
Susquehanna,  Pennsylvania.  The  first 
man  to  leave  the  train  was  the  "  shadow," 
who  informed  his  chief  that  Proctor  was 
sound  asleep  in  berth  No.  12.  Donahue 
and  Collins,  he  said,  had  left  the  train 
long  before  it  reached  the  last  station  on 
the  Canadian  side,  so  that  the  plan  for 
their  capture  had  fallen  through.  Mr. 
Pinkerton  went  aboard  the  sleeper  at 
once,  and  going  to  berth  No.  12,  pushed 
aside  the  curtains.  He  could  not  see 
88 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

distinctly  for  the  darkness,  but  borrow- 
ing a  lantern  from  one  of  the  trainmen, 
let  the  light  fall  on  the  face  of  the  person 
within,  and  saw  it  was  Proctor,  slumber- 
ing in  complete  unconsciousness  that  his 
hour  of  reckoning  had  come.  A  gentle 
push  in  the  ribs  awakened  him  with  a 
start.  Recognizing  Mr.  Pinkerton,  he 
said  with  admirable  coolness : 

"  You  have  spoiled  the  whole  business. 
If  you  had  not  come  in  here  to  arrest 
me,  I  would  have  had  those  men  across 
the  line  next  week." 

When  he  said  this,  Proctor  supposed 
that  Donahue  and  Collins  were  asleep  in 
an  adjoining  berth ;  but,  even  to  save 
himself,  he  never  thought  of  betraying 
them,  which  goes  to  show  that  he  was  a 
"  stancher  "  man  than  Donahue  and  Col- 
lins had  been  led  to  believe.  For  some 
time  he  endeavored  to  maintain  his  old 
character  with  Mr.  Pinkerton;  but  on 
the  way  to  Susquehanna,  realizing  the 
hopelessness  of  his  case,  he  acknow- 

89. 


True  Detective  Stories 

ledged  the  deception  he  had  practised, 
and  his  full  responsibility  with  the  others 
in  the  Susquehanna  robbery.  He  also 
admitted  his  previous  criminal  record. 

At  Susquehanna,  Proctor  was  placed 
in  jail  to  await  trial,  and  there  Mr.  Pin- 
kerton  visited  him  some  time  later. 
Something  in  the  prisoner's  manner  con- 
vinced the  detective  that  all  was  not  as 
it  should  be,  and  he  urged  the  sheriff  to 
put  Proctor  in  another  cell  and  search 
his  clothes  and  his  cell  thoroughly.  This 
was  done,  and  there  were  found  a  number 
of  keys  that  fitted  the  locks  of  various 
doors  in  the  jail,  and  also  a  large  key 
fitting  the  gate  from  the  jail-yard  into 
the  street.  Proctor's  rare  mechanical 
skill  had  enabled  him  to  make  these  keys 
in  his  cell,  from  impressions  furnished  him 
by  a  woman  who  had  been  allowed  to 
visit  him.  Being  a  good  talker,  Proctor 
had  won  this  woman's  sympathy,  and 
had  also  made  a  strong  appeal  to  her 
self-interest  by  promising,  on  his  escape, 
90 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

to  share  with  her  a  large  sum  of  money 
he  had  buried. 

At  his  trial  Proctor  pleaded  guilty, 
and  was  sentenced  to  twelve  years'  im- 
prisonment in  the  penitentiary  at  Cherry 
Hill,  Pennsylvania.  Here,  again,  he  was 
caught  in  the  act  of  making  keys  to  aid 
him  to  escape.  He  laid  various  other 
plans  for  regaining  his  liberty,  indeed, 
but  all  were  frustrated.  His  imprison- 
ment worked  no  reform  in  him.  After 
he  had  served  out  his  sentence,  some 
burglaries  committed  in  Maine  brought 
him  again  under  arrest,  and,  having  been 
identified  as  a  convict  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts State  prison,  he  was  taken  back 
to  that  institution,  to  serve  out  his  unex- 
pired  sentence. 

The  United  States  Express  Company 
had  not  relaxed  its  efforts  against  his 
associates  after  Proctor's  capture.  Dona- 
hue and  Collins  returned  to  Montreal, 
well  satisfied  with  the  work  they  had 
done,  and  thinking  themselves  safe  from 


True  Detective  Stories 

pursuit.  But  President  Platt  instructed 
Robert  Pinkerton  to  take  every  measure 
possible  against  them,  and  it  was  decided 
that  as  Donahue  could  not  be  reached 
and  punished  for  the  robbery  at  Susque- 
hanna,  he  should  be  made  to  suffer  for 
the  early  robbery  at  Quebec  already  re- 
ferred to.  Donahue's  complicity  in  this 
robbery  was  proved  by  the  discovery  of 
a  part  of  the  stolen  goods  in  his  hotel  at 
Fort  Erie.  Through  the  efforts  of  the 
express  company  and  the  Pinkertons  he 
was  now  arrested,  and  on  trial  was  con- 
victed and  sentenced  to  five  years'  im- 
prisonment in  the  Kingston  penitentiary. 
After  his  conviction  Donahue  told  the 
detectives  that  he  was  a  fool  to  have  had 
anything  to  do  with  such  a  dangerous 
project  as  an  express  robbery,  but  that 
the  opportunity  at  Susquehanna  was  so 
tempting  that  he  could  not  resist  it. 
After  his  arrest  the  express  company 
attached  all  of  his  property,  and,  although 
they  did  not  succeed  in  getting  a  judg- 
92 


The  Susquehanna  Express  Robbery 

ment  against  him,  they  fought  him  in 
the  courts  until  his  wife,  acting  for  him, 
was  obliged  to  mortgage  all  their  posses- 
sions up  to  the  last  dollar,  so  that  they 
never  derived  any  substantial  benefit 
from  the  stolen  money. 

As  for  Collins,  he  remained  a  fugitive 
from  justice  for  some  time  after  the  con- 
viction of  Proctor  and  Donahue.  Several 
years  later,  however,  seeing  himself  con- 
stantly threatened  by  the  express  com- 
pany and  the  detectives,  he  decided  to 
placate  his  enemies  by  stepping  out  from 
the  ranks  of  the  law-breakers  and  trying' 
to  lead  an  honest  life.  And  he  has  suc- 
ceeded, as  the  Pinkertons  have  reason  to 
know ;  and  his  case  goes  to  prove  what 
is  borne  out  by  wide  experience,  that 
even  the  most  desperate  criminals  are 
sometimes  capable  of  genuine  reform. 


93 


The  Pollock  Diamond 
Robbery 


The  Pollock  Diamond 
Robbery 

'T^HERE  were  thirteen  men  in  the 
A  smoker  of  a  train  on  the  Sioux  City 
and  Pacific  Railroad  when  it  drew  out  of 
Omaha  at  six  o'clock  on  Friday  evening, 
November  4,  1892,  and  started  on  its 
eastward  run.  Among  these  thirteen, 
sitting  about  half-way  down  the  aisle, 
enjoying  a  good  cigar,  was  Mr.  W.  G. 
Pollock  of  New  York,  a  traveling  sales- 
man for  W.  L.  Pollock  &  Co.,  of  the  same 
city,  dealers  in  diamonds.  In  the  inside 
pocket  of  his  vest  he  carried  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars'  worth  of  uncut  diamonds, 
while  a  leather  satchel  on  the  seat  beside 
97 


True  Detective  Stories 

him  contained  a  quantity  of   valuable 
stones  in  settings. 

On  the  front  seat  of  the  car,  just  be- 
hind the  stove,  sat  a  stolid-looking  young 
man,  who  would  have  passed  for  a  farm- 
er's lad.  He  seemed  scarcely  over 
twenty,  having  neither  beard  nor  mus- 
tache, and  a  stranger  would  have  put  him 
down  as  a  rather  stupid,  inoffensive  fel- 
low. Compared  with  Mr.  Pollock,  he 
was  slighter  in  build,  although  an  inch 
or  so  taller.  As  he  sat  there  staring  at 
the  stove,  the  passenger  in  the  seat  be- 
hind him,  J.  H.  Shaw,  an  Omaha  well- 
digger,  a  bluff,  hearty  man  of  social 
instincts,  tried  to  draw  him  into  conver- 
sation ;  but  the  young  fellow  only  shook 
his  head  sulkily,  and  the  well-digger 
relapsed  into  silence.  Presently,  as  the 
train  was  approaching  California  Junc- 
tion, the  young  man  on  the  front  seat 
rose  and  started  down  the  aisle.  Curi- 
ously enough,  he  now  wore  a  full  beard 
of  black  hair  five  or  six  inches  long.  No 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

one  paid  any  attention  to  him  until  he 
stopped  at  Mr.  Pollock's  seat,  drew  a 
revolver,  and  said  loud  enough  for  every 
one  in  the  car  to  hear  him : 

"  Give  me  them  diamonds." 

Then,  without  waiting  for  a  reply,  he 
shifted  the  revolver  to  his  left  hand,  drew 
a  slung-shot  from  his  coat-pocket,  and 
struck  Mr.  Pollock  over  the  head  such 
a  heavy  blow  that  the  bag  of  the  slung- 
shot  burst,  and  the  shot  itself  fell  to  the 
floor.  Then  he  said  again :  "  Give  me 
them  diamonds." 

Realizing  that  the  situation  was  des- 
perate, Mr.  Pollock  took  out  his  pocket- 
book  and  handed  it  to  his  assailant, 
saying :  "  I  have  only  a  hundred  dollars ; 
here  it  is." 

Pushing  back  the  pocket-book  as  if  un- 
worthy of  his  attention,  the  man  coolly 
aimed  his  revolver  at  Mr.  Pollock's  right 
shoulder  and  fired.  Then  he  aimed  at 
the  left  shoulder  and  fired.  Both  bullets 
hit,  and  were  followed  by  two  more, 
99 


True  Detective  Stories 

which  went  whizzing  by  the  diamond- 
merchant's  head  on  either  side,  missing 
him,  perhaps  by  accident,  but  probably 
by  design,  as  the  men  were  not  three  feet 
apart. 

By  this  the  other  people  in  the  car 
had  disappeared  under  the  seats  like  rats 
into  their  holes.  To  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses Mr.  Pollock  was  alone  with  his 
assailant.  The  latter  evidently  knew 
where  the  diamonds  were  secreted,  for, 
ripping  open  his  victim's  vest,  he  drew 
out  the  leather  wallet  in  which  they  were 
inclosed,  and  stuffed  it  into  his  pocket. 
Wounded  though  he  was,  Mr.  Pollock 
now  grappled  with  the  thief,  who,  using 
the  butt  of  his  revolver  as  a  cudgel, 
brought  down  fearful  blows  on  Pollock's 
head.  The  latter,  however,  getting  into 
the  aisle,  fought  the  robber  up  and  down 
the  car ;  but  a  crushing  blow  at  last  laid 
him  senseless  on  the  floor. 

With  perfect  self-possession  and  with- 
out hurry  the  thief  walked  back  down 
100 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

the  aisle  to  Mr.  Pollock's  seat,  and  took 
one  of  the  two  leather  bags  lying  there, 
by  mistake  choosing,  though,  the  one 
that  did  not  contain  the  mounted  dia- 
monds. Then  he  went  to  the  end  of  the 
car,  pulled  the  bell-rope,  and,  as  the 
train  began  to  slacken  its  speed  in  re- 
sponse to  this  signal,  jumped  off  the  steps, 
rolled  down  a  bank  fifteen  feet  high,  and 
disappeared. 

Sharing,  apparently,  in  the  general 
consternation  and  terror  inspired  by  the 
young  fellow,  the  conductor,  instead  of 
holding  the  train  to  pursue  the  thief, 
signaled  the  engineer  to  go  ahead,  and 
no  effort  was  made  for  a  capture  until 
the  train  reached  California  Junction, 
several  miles  farther  on.  Meanwhile  the 
panic-stricken  passengers  recovered,  at 
their  leisure,  their  composure  and  their 
seats.  Had  but  one  of  his  fellow-trav- 
elers gone  to  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Pol- 
lock, the  robber  might  easily  have  been 
overpowered.  As  it  was,  he  all  but 

IOI 


True  Detective  Stories 

murdered  his  man,  plundered  him  of  his 
diamonds,  and  escaped  without  the 
slightest  interference.  When  his  pistol 
was  picked  up,  near  the  spot  where  he 
left  the  train,  it  was  found  that  in  the 
struggle  the  cylinder  had  caught,  so  that 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  dis- 
charge the  two  chambers  remaining 
loaded.  Thus  eleven  able-bodied  men 
were  held  in  a  state  of  abject  terror  by 
one  slender  lad,  who  at  the  last  was 
practically  unarmed. 

At  California  Junction  the  wounded 
diamond-merchant  was  carried  from  the 
train,  and  that  same  night  taken  back 
to  Omaha.  Mr.  Pollock,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Jewelers'  Protective  Union,  a 
rich  and  powerful  organization,  estab- 
lished some  years  ago  for  the  protection 
of  jewelry  salesmen  against  thieves,  was 
entitled  to  its  aid. 

When  the  detectives  reached  the  scene 
of  the  robbery,  the  robber  had  vanished 
as  completely  as  if  he  had  been  whisked 

102 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

off  to  another  planet.  To  be  sure,  farmers 
in  the  neighborhood  brought  rumors  of 
the  stealing  of  horses,  of  a  strange  man 
sleeping  in  the  woods,  and  of  a  desperate- 
looking  character  seen  limping  along  the 
road.  But  all  this  came  to  nothing,  ex- 
cept to  establish,  what  seemed  probable, 
that  the  diamond-thief  had  fled  back  to 
Omaha.  A  patient  and  exhaustive  search 
in  Omaha  resulted  in  nothing.  The  man 
was  gone,  and  the  diamonds  were  gone ; 
that  was  all  anybody  knew. 

What  made  the  case  more  difficult  was 
the  uncertainty  as  to  the  robber's  per- 
sonal appearance;  for  some  of  the  pas- 
sengers testified  to  one  thing,  and  some 
to  another.  The  black  beard  was  a  cause 
of  confusion;  only  one  witness  besides 
Mr.  Pollock  remembered  that  the  man 
wore  such  a  beard.  Mr.  Pollock,  how- 
ever, was  positive  as  to  this  particular, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  he  ought  to  know. 
It  was  also  impossible  to  decide,  from 
conflicting  statements,  whether  the  rob- 
103 


True  Detective  Stories 

her  had  a  mustache  or  not,  and  whether 
it  was  dark  or  light  in  color.  The  fact 
is,  the  passengers  had  been  so  thoroughly 
frightened  at  the  time  of  the  assault  that 
the  credibility  of  their  testimony  was 
much  to  be  questioned. 

Mr.  Pollock  reported  that  for  several 
weeks  previous  to  the  robbery  he  had 
suspected  that  he  was  being  followed. 
He  also  reported  that  on  the  day  of  the 
robbery  he  had  been  in  the  shop  of  the 
largest  pawnbroker  in  Omaha,  and  that 
while  he  was  there  two  noted  Western 
gamblers  had  entered  the  shop  and  been 
presented  to  him  as  possible  customers. 
He  had  made  a  trade  of  some  diamonds 
with  one  of  the  men,  and,  in  the  course 
of  the  negotiations,  had  shown  his  entire 
stock.  While  the  trade  was  in  progress 
a  negro  on  the  premises  had  noticed, 
lounging  about  the  front  of  the  shop,  a 
man  in  a  slouch-hat  who  suggested  the 
robber.  From  these  circumstances  it 
was  decided  that  the  robbery  might  be 
104 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

the  work  of  an  organized  gang,  who  had 
been  waiting  their  opportunity  for  many 
days,  and  had  selected  one  of  their 
number  to  do  the  actual  deed. 

All  his  life  it  had  been  Mr.  Pinkerton's 
business  to  study  criminals  and  under- 
stand their  natures.  He  knew  that  a 
crime  like  this  one  was  much  beyond  the 
power  of  an  ordinary  criminal.  Let  a 
robber  be  ever  so  greedy  of  gold,  reck- 
less of  human  life,  and  indifferent  to 
consequences,  he  would  still  think  many 
times  before  declaring  war  to  the  death 
upon  twelve  men  in  a  narrow  car,  on  a 
swiftly  moving  train.  This  was  surely 
no  novice  in  crime,  reasoned  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton,  but  a  man  whose  record  would  al- 
ready show  deeds  of  the  greatest  daring ; 
a  brave  fellow,  though  a  bad  one.  And 
even  among  the  well-known  experienced 
criminals  there  must  be  very  few  who 
were  capable  of  this  deed. 

Mr.  Pinkerton,  therefore,  set  himself 
to  studying  the  bureau's  records  and 


True  Detective  Stories 

rogues'  gallery  to  first  pick  out  these  few. 
Page  after  page  of  photographs  was 
turned  over,  drawer  after  drawer  of  rec- 
ords was  searched  through,  and  at  last 
a  dozen  or  more  men  were  decided  upon 
as  sufficiently  preeminent  to  merit  con- 
sideration in  connection  with  the  present 
case. 

Photographs  of  these  dozen  or  so  were 
speedily  struck  off,  and  submitted  by  the 
detectives  to  all  the  men  who  had  been 
in  the  smoking-car  at  the  time  of  the 
robbery,  to  the  conductor  of  the  train 
and  the  trainmen,  to  other  passengers,  to 
farmers  and  others  who  might  have  seen 
the  robber  while  making  his  escape,  and 
to  various  people  in  Omaha.  The  result 
was  startling.  Conductor  D.  M.  Ash- 
more,  without  hesitation,  selected  from 
the  dozen  or  more  portraits  one  as 
that  of  the  robber.  Mr.  Shaw,  the 
Omaha  well- digger,  who  had  sat  just 
behind  the  robber,  selected  the  same 
photograph,  and  was  positive  it  pictured 
106 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

the  man  he  had  tried  to  talk  to.  Other 
passengers  also  picked  out  this  photo- 
graph, as  did  various  persons  who  had 
caught  sight  of  the  man  as  he  escaped. 

The  portrait  thus  chosen  by  common 
accord  was  that  of  Frank  Bruce,  one  of 
the  most  desperate  burglars  of  the 
younger  generation  in  the  country,  and 
it  seemed  only  necessary  now  to  find 
Bruce,  to  have  the  problem  solved. 
Many  days  were  spent,  and  hundreds 
of  dollars,  in  searching  for  him.  Dozens 
of  cities  were  visited,  and  every  con- 
ceivable effort  made  to  get  on  his  track ; 
but  it  was  not  until  his  pursuers  were 
almost  weary  of  the  chase  that  he  was 
finally  discovered  living  quietly  in  Chi- 
cago, on  Cottage  Grove  Avenue,  near 
Thirty-sixth  Street,  where  he  was  oper- 
ating with  another  high-class  burglar, 
"  Billy  "  Boyce. 

Requisition  papers  were  at  once  pro- 
cured from  the  governor  of  Iowa  on  the 
governor  of  Illinois,  and  men  were  sent 
107 


True  Detective  Stories 

to  take  Bruce  into  custody,  when  the 
"  shadows  "  reported  that  he  and  Boyce 
had  left  for  Milwaukee,  where,  of  course, 
the  requisition  papers  were  valueless. 
Fortunately,  that  same  night  they  at- 
tempted a  burglary  in  Milwaukee,  for 
which  they  were  arrested  and  held  for 
ninety  days.  This  gave  the  Chicago 
detectives  abundant  time  to  identify 
Bruce  as  the  missing  robber. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  himself  went  at  once  to 
Milwaukee,  saw  Bruce  in  the  jail,  heard 
his  story,  verified  its  essential  facts,  and 
within  two  days,  to  his  own  complete 
disappointment,  and  in  spite  of  himself, 
had  proved  a  complete  alibi  for  Bruce. 
To  satisfy  himself  in  this  connection,  Mr. 
Pinkerton  brought  conductor  Ashmore 
and  Mr.  Shaw  to  Milwaukee,  and  pointed 
Bruce  out  to  them;  and,  after  looking 
carefully  at  him,  both  men  declared  they 
had  made  a  mistake  in  choosing  his  por- 
trait, and  that  Bruce  was  not  the  rob- 
ber. 

108 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

With  Bruce  clear,  the  detectives  were 
again  without  a  suspect,  and  almost  with- 
out a  clue.  Just  here,  however,  Mr. 
Pinkerton  recalled  that  on  a  trip  to  the 
West,  some  three  years  previous,  to  in- 
vestigate the  case  of  a  man  arrested  at 
Reno,  Nevada,  on  a  charge  of  "  holding 
up"  a  faro-bank,  and  while  stopping 
over  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  he  had 
run  across  some  sporting  men  in  that 
city  with  whom  he  was  well  acquainted, 
and  on  his  telling  them  where  he  was 
going  and  what  his  business  was,  one  of 
them,  whom  Mr.  Pinkerton  had  known 
for  years,  had  said :  "  Why,  the  man  at 
Reno  is  innocent.  The  men  who  com- 
mitted that  robbery  are  in  this  city.  One 
of  them  is  a  smooth-faced  boy,  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  the  other  is  a 
heavy-set,  dark-complexioned  fellow, 
with  a  dark  mustache.  They  are  the 
intimate  friends  and  companions  of  Jack 
Denton,  the  well-known  gambler  of  Salt 
Lake ;  and  only  a  short  time  ago,  at  Salt 
109 


True  Detective  Stories 

Lake,  they  entered  a  house  one  night,  go- 
ing in  through  a  rear  door,  and  compelled 
two  ladies,  who  were  just  returned  from 
a  ball,  to  give  up  a  large  amount  of  dia- 
monds." 

Though  not  interested  in  this  partic- 
ular robbery,  Mr.  Pinkerton  had  men- 
tally jotted  down  the  intimacy  of  Jack 
Denton  with  this  class  of  people ;  and  he 
recalled  it  now  in  connection  with  the 
fact  that  Jack  Denton  was  one  of  the 
two  gamblers  to  whom  Pollock  had  ex- 
posed his  diamonds  at  the  pawnshop  in 
Omaha.  He  at  once  decided  to  secure 
definite  information  in  regard  to  the  boy 
who  had  been  with  Denton  at  Salt  Lake 
three  years  earlier.  Proceeding  imme- 
diately to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  making 
cautious  inquiries,  he  learned  that  the 
boy  in  question,  since  he  first  heard  of 
him,  had  been  arrested  and  convicted  of 
robbery  at  Ogden,  Utah,  and  sentenced 
to  one  year's  term  in  the  penitentiary. 
An  investigation  at  the  penitentiary  dis- 
110 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

closed  that  the  young  man  had  given 
the  name  of  James  Burke,  had  served 
out  his  sentence  under  that  name,  and 
had  been  released  about  one  month  pre- 
vious to  the  Pollock  robbery. 

Denton,  in  the  meantime,  had  left  Salt 
Lake  and  gone  to  Omaha,  there  to  make 
his  home.  The  boy  Burke,  argued  the 
detective,  had  naturally  followed  his 
friend  to  that  place.  An  accurate  de- 
scription of  Burke  was  got  from  the 
records  of  the  Utah  penitentiary,  and 
some  idea  of  him  and  his  friends  was  de- 
rived from  the  officials  of  the  prison. 
But  where  to  find  him  in  the  whole  great 
West  was  a  question. 

Inquiries  at  Salt  Lake  developed  the 
further  fact  that  Burke  had  had  one  in- 
timate friend  there,  a  man  named  Mar- 
shall P.  Hooker.  Hooker  had  now, 
however,  left  Salt  Lake  and  removed  to 
Denver.  For  a  man  of  his  class,  Hooker 
was  unusually  talkative,  and  was  known 
by  "  crooks  "  throughout  the  country  as 
in 


True  Detective  Stories 

"  Windy  "  Hooker.  Plans  were  made 
for  keeping  a  watch  on  him  and  on  Jack 
Denton,  in  the  hope,  by  "  shadowing  " 
the  movements  of  these  two,  of  ultimately 
locating  Burke. 

Through  the  free  talk  of  Hooker,  re- 
ported back  to  the  detective,  it  was  soon 
learned  that  Burke  was  known  by  the 
alias  of  "  Kid  "  McCoy,  and  that  he  had 
recently  been  operating  on  the  Pacific 
coast  in  "  holding  up  "  faro-banks,  and 
had  also  been  concerned  in  two  large 
robberies,  one  at  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  and 
the  other  at  Sacramento,  California.  His 
whereabouts  at  that  time,  however,  were 
unknown. 

Much  time  had  now  elapsed  since  the 
robbery,  and  the  sensation  caused  by  it 
had  died  out.  Jack  Denton  and  his 
friends  seldom  spoke  of  it,  and  Hooker 
never  spoke  of  it  unless  the  subject  was 
introduced  to  him.  Both  men  were  ex- 
tremely shy  of  strangers,  and  it  was  al- 
most impossible  for  a  detective  to  draw 
112 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

them  out,  as  anybody  who  introduced 
the  subject  of  the  robbery  was  at  once 
looked  upon  with  suspicion.  For  the 
purpose  of  creating  further  talk  upon  the 
subject,  Mr.  Pinkerton  caused  to  be  in- 
serted in  the  Omaha  papers  an  advertise- 
ment as  follows : 

"  Five  hundred  dollars  will  be  paid 
for  any  information  leading  up  to  the 
identification  of  the  party  who  robbed 
William  G.  Pollock  on  the  Sioux  City 
and  Pacific  train,  November  4,  1892. 
"  WILLIAM  A.  PINKERTON, 
"Paxton  House,  Omaha,  Nebraska." 

This  at  once  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  local  newspaper-men,  and  when  Mr. 
Pinkerton  arrived  in  Omaha  he  was  inter- 
viewed by  all  the  papers  in  the  city  in 
regard  to  the  robbery.  Thus  interest  in 
the  robbery  was  at  once  renewed.  Den- 
ton  and  the  other  persons  under  suspicion 
commenced  talking  of  the  matter  again, 
none  more  freely  than  Hooker. 


True  Detective  Stories 

The  latter  was  then  in  Denver.  Mr. 
Pinkerton  instructed  Mr.  James  McPar- 
land,  Denver  superintendent  of  the  Pin- 
kerton Agency,  to  send  for  him,  and  say 
to  him  that  he  had  understood  that  he 
(Hooker)  could  throw  some  light  on  the 
robbery,  and  that  a  large  sum  of  money 
would  be  paid  him  for  the  information 
he  gave.  Mr.  Pinkerton  explained  to 
Mr.  McParland  that  Hooker  would  lie  to 
him  and  endeavor  to  get  the  money  by 
giving  him  false  information,  but  to  listen 
patiently  to  what  he  had  to  say  and  lead 
him  on  as  far  as  possible  without  giving 
him  any  money.  This  done,  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton  further  predicted  that  Hooker  would 
go  back  to  his  cronies  and  boast  of  the 
way  he  was  fooling  Pinkerton  and  how 
much  money  he  expected  to  get ;  and 
that  eventually,  through  his  boastings,  he 
would  prove  the  means  of  locating  Burke, 
alias  McCoy. 

And  so,  precisely,  it  fell  out.  Some 
of  Hooker's  companions  were  Pinkerton 
114 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

detectives,  although  Hooker  did  not 
know  them  as  such,  and  they  in  time 
reported  back  that  Burke  was  really  the 
Pollock  robber;  that  after  committing 
the  robbery  he  had  gone  back  to  Omaha, 
and  from  there  had  gone  to  Denver. 
From  Denver  he  went  to  Salt  Lake,  and 
visited  a  prisoner  in  the  Salt  Lake  peni- 
tentiary with  whom  he  was  intimate,  gave 
this  prisoner  some  money,  and  went  from 
Salt  Lake  west  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  next  instructed  that  the 
record  be  examined  for  daring  "  hold- 
ups "  that  might  have  occurred  in  the 
country  lately  traversed  by  Burke.  It 
was  then  found  that  a  faro-bank  at  Colo- 
rado City,  a  small  place  between  Manitou 
Springs  and  Colorado  Springs,  had  been 
entered  late  at  night  by  a  masked  robber, 
who  compelled  the  dealer  and  other 
persons  to  hold  up  their  hands,  took  the 
money  in  the  drawer,  and  escaped ;  that 
later  on  a  similar  robbery  had  been  per- 
petrated at  San  Bernardino,  California; 


True  Detective  Stories 

that  later  still  the  pool- rooms  of  James 
Malone,  a  noted  gambler  at  Tacoma, 
Washington,  had  been  treated  in  the  same 
manner ;  and,  finally,  that  a  light  or  pane 
of  glass  in  a  jewelry  store  at  Sacra- 
mento had  been  broken  in  and  a  tray  of 
diamonds  snatched  from  the  window 
by  a  daring  thief.  And  all  of  these 
deeds,  Mr.  Pinkerton  learned  ultimately 
through  Hooker's  talk,  had  been  done 
by  Burke. 

The  watch  on  Denton  at  Omaha  de- 
veloped little,  if  anything,  except  that  a 
close  companionship  existed  between  him 
and  the  Omaha  pawnbroker. 

During  the  summer  of  1893,  learning 
that  an  intimate  friend  of  Burke's,  a 
burglar  who  had  been  in  prison  with  him 
in  the  Utah  penitentiary,  was  confined  in 
jail  at  Georgetown,  Texas,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
decided  to  go  and  interview  this  man, 
and  see  if  he  could  get  any  trace,  through 
him,  of  the  robber.  In  the  meantime 
he  instructed  the  detectives  at  Omaha 
116 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

and  Denver  to  keep  a  particularly  close 
watch  on  Jack  Denton  and  Hooker. 

On  Mr.  Pihkerton's  arrival  at  Austin, 
Texas,  he  found  awaiting  him  despatches 
from  Superintendent  McParland  of  the 
Denver  agency,  stating  that  through 
Hooker's  talk  they  had  learned  that 
"  Kid  "  McCoy,  or  Burke,  had  been  ar- 
rested at  Eagle,  Colorado,  with  a  kit  of 
burglar  tools  in  his  possession,  and  was 
then  in  jail  at  Leadville,  Colorado. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  at  once  telegraphed  to 
have  conductor  Ashmore  and  Mr.  Shaw, 
the  well-digger,  go  to  Leadville  and  see 
if  they  could  identify  the  prisoner.  Word 
was  also  sent  to  New  York  for  Mr.  Pol- 
lock to  do  the  same.  He  also  instructed 
Superintendent  McParland  at  Denver  to 
send  his  assistant,  J.  C.  Fraser,  to  watch 
the  case,  so  that  if  McCoy  gave  bail,  or 
attempted  to  escape  from  the  Leadville 
jail,  they  could  be  ready  with  a  warrant 
for  his  arrest  on  account  of  the  Pollock 
robbery. 

117 


True  Detective  Stories 

Having  wired  these  instructions,  Mr. 
Pinkerton  proceeded  on  his  journey  to 
Georgetown,  Texas,  where  he  called  on 
McCoy's  former  prison  associate  in  the 
Utah  penitentiary,  but  was  unable  to 
get  him  to  tell  anything  about  McCoy, 
though  he  volunteered,  if  Mr.  Pinkerton 
would  furnish  him  a  bond  and  get  him 
out  of  his  Texas  scrape,  to  go  to  Omaha 
and  compel  the  "  fence  "  who  had  re- 
ceived the  diamonds  to  turn  back  the 
property.  But  the  rule  of  the  Jewelers' 
Protective  Union  was  to  get  the  thief 
first  and  the  property  afterward;  so 
no  treaty  was  made  with  the  Texas 
prisoner. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  now  went  to  Kansas 
City,  and  found  awaiting  him  there  de- 
spatches from  Superintendent  McParland 
of  the  Denver  agency,  stating  that  con- 
ductor Ashmore  and  Messrs.  Shaw  and 
Pollock  had  positively  identified  the 
prisoner  James  Burke,  alias  "  Kid  "  Mc- 
118 


The  Pollock  Diamond  Robbery 

Coy,  as  the  man  who  assaulted  Mr. 
Pollock  and  robbed  him  of  his  diamonds. 
Burke  winced  perceptibly  when  he 
saw  conductor  Ashmore  and  Mr.  Shaw, 
and  went  fairly  wild  when  confronted  by 
Mr.  Pollock.  Requisition  papers  were 
obtained  from  the  governor  of  the  State 
of  Iowa  on  the  governor  of  Colorado,  and 
the  Colorado  offense  being  a  minor  one, 
Burke  was  turned  over  to  Assistant 
Superintendent  Fraser  and  another  de- 
tective, to  be  taken  to  Logan,  Harrison 
County,  Iowa.  Before  leaving  Leadville, 
Mr.  Fraser  was  confidentially  warned  by 
the  sheriff  of  the  county  that  he  could 
not  be  too  careful  of  his  prisoner;  for 
that  Burke,  through  a  friend  of  the  sheriff, 
had  made  a  proposition  to  the  latter  to 
pay  him  a  thousand  dollars  if  he  would 
secretly  furnish  him  with  a  revolver 
when  he  left  the  jail,  his  design  being, 
with  this  revolver,  to  either  "  hold  up  " 
or  kill  the  two  detectives  who  had  him 
119 


True  Detective  Stories 

in  custody  and  make   his  escape  from 
the  train. 

On  trial  at  Logan,  Iowa,  the  man  was 
easily  convicted,  and  was  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  a  term  of  seventeen 
years. 


120 


The  Rock  Island  Express 


ROBERT  A.  PINKERTON 


The  Rock  Island  Express 


THE  through  express  on  the  Rock 
Island  road  left  Chicago  at  10:45 
P.  M.,  on  March  12,  1886,  with  twenty- 
two  thousand  dollars  in  fifty-  and  one- 
hundred-dollar  bills  in  the  keeping  of 
Kellogg  Nichols,  an  old-time  messenger 
of  the  United  States  Express  Company. 
This  sum  had  been  sent  by  a  Chicago 
bank  to  be  delivered  at  the  principal 
bank  in  Davenport,  Iowa.  In  addition 
to  the  usual  passenger-coaches,  the  train 
drew  two  express-cars :  the  first,  for  ex- 
press only,  just  behind  the  engine ;  and, 
following  this,  one  for  express  and  bag- 
gage. These  cars  had  end  doors,  which 
offer  the  best  opportunity  to  train  rob- 
123 


True  Detective  Stories 

bers.  Messenger  Nichols  was  in  the  first 
car,  and  was  duly  at  his  work  when  the 
train  stopped  at  Joliet,  a  town  about  forty 
miles  west  of  Chicago.  But  at  the  next 
stop,  which  was  made  at  Morris,  Harry 
Schwartz,  a  brakeman,  came  running 
from  Nichols's  car,  crying,  "  The  mes- 
senger is  dead." 

The  messenger's  lifeless  body  was 
found  lying  on  the  floor  of  the  car.  The 
head  had  been  crushed  by  some  heavy 
weapon,  and  there  was  a  pistol- wound  in 
the  right  shoulder.  Apparently  he  had 
been  overcome  only  after  a  hard  fight. 
His  face  was  set  with  fierce  determina- 
tion. His  fists  were  clenched,  and  the 
hands  and  fingers  cut  and  scratched  in  a 
curious  way,  while  under  the  nails  were 
found  what  proved  to  be  bits  of  human 
flesh.  The  pistol-wound  was  from  a 
weapon  of  32  caliber;  but  it  was  not  the 
cause  of  the  man's  death.  This,  unmistak- 
ably, was  the  blow,  or  blows,  on  the  head, 
probably  after  the  shot  was  fired.  All  who 
124 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

knew  messenger  Nichols  were  surprised 
at  the  desperate  resistance  he  seemed  to 
have  made,  for  he  was  a  small,  light  man, 
not  more  than  five  feet  five  in  height, 
nor  weighing  over  one  hundred  and 
thirty  pounds,  and  of  no  great  credit 
among  his  fellows  for  pluck  and  courage. 

The  express-car  was  immediately  de- 
tached from  the  train,  and  left  at  Morris, 
guarded  by  all  the  train- crew  except 
Schwartz,  who  was  sent  on  with  the  train 
to  Davenport.  After  the  first  cursory 
inspection  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter 
the  car  where  Nichols  lay ;  and  nothing 
was  known  precisely  as  to  the  extent  of 
the  robbery.  The  safe-door  had  been 
found  open  and  the  floor  of  the  car  lit- 
tered with  the  contents  of  the  safe. 

An  urgent  telegram  was  at  once  sent 
to  Chicago,  and  a  force  of  detectives 
arrived  at  Morris  on  a  special  train  a  few 
hours  later.  Search-parties  were  at  once 
sent  out  in  all  directions  along  the  coun- 
try roads,  and  up  and  down  the  tracks. 
"5 


True  Detective  Stories 

Hundreds  of  people  joined  in  the  search, 
for  the  news  of  the  murder  spread  rapidly 
through  the  whole  region,  and  not  a 
square  yard  of  territory  for  miles  be- 
tween Morris  and  Minooka  station  was 
left  unexplored.  It  happened  that  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow,  but  the 
keenest  scrutiny  failed  to  reveal  any 
significant  footprints,  and  the  search- 
parties  returned  after  many  hours,  having 
made  only  a  single  discovery.  This  was 
a  mask  found  in  a  cattle-guard  near 
Minooka — a  mask  made  of  black  cloth, 
with  white  strings  fastened  at  either  side, 
one  of  which  had  been  torn  out  of  the 
cloth  as  if  in  a  struggle. 

Meantime  Mr.  Pinkerton  himself  en- 
tered the  car  and  made  a  careful  investi- 
gation. His  first  discovery  was  a  heavy 
poker,  bearing  stains  of  blood  and  bits  of 
matted  hair.  It  was  hanging  in  its  usual 
place,  behind  the  stove.  The  significance 
of  this  last  fact  was  great,  in  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton's  opinion ;  from  it  he  concluded  that 
126 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

the  crime  had  been  committed  by  a  rail- 
road man,  his  reasoning  being  that  the 
poker  could  have  been  restored  to  its 
usual  place  after  such  a  use  only  me- 
chanically and  from  force  of  habit  and 
that  an  assailant  who  was  not  a  railroad 
man  would  have  left  it  on  the  floor  or 
thrown  it  away. 

Coming  to  the  safe,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
found  that  the  twenty-two  thousand  dol- 
lars were  missing,  and  that  other  papers 
had  been  hastily  searched  over,  but  left 
behind  as  valueless. 

Among  these  was  a  bundle  of  canceled 
drafts  that  had  been  roughly  torn  open 
and  then  thrown  aside.  Mr.  Pinkerton 
scarcely  noticed  at  the  moment,  but  had 
occasion  to  remember  subsequently,  that 
a  small  piece  of  one  of  these  drafts  was 
missing,  as  if  a  corner  had  been  torn  off. 

All  the  train-hands  were  immediately 

questioned,  but  none  of  their  stories  was 

in  any  way  significant,  except  that  of 

Newton  Watt,  the  man  in  charge  of  the 

127 


True  Detective  Stories 

second  car.  He  said  that  while  busy 
counting  over  his  way-bills  and  receipts 
he  had  been  startled  by  the  crash  of 
broken  glass  in  the  ventilator  overhead, 
and  that  at  the  same  moment  a  heavily 
built  man,  wearing  a  black  mask,  had 
entered  the  car  and  said,  "  If  you  move, 
the  man  up  there  will  bore  you."  Look- 
ing up,  Watt  said  further,  he  saw  a  hand 
thrust  through  the  broken  glass  and  hold- 
ing a  revolver.  Thus  intimidated,  he 
made  no  attempt  to  give  an  alarm,  and 
the  masked  man  presently  left  him  under 
guard  of  the  pistol  overhead,  which 
covered  him  until  shortly  before  the  train 
reached  Morris,  when  it  was  withdrawn. 
He  was  able  to  locate  the  place  where 
the  crime  must  have  been  committed,  as 
he  remembered  that  the  engine  was 
whistling  for  Minooka  when  the  stranger 
entered  the  car.  This  left  about  thirty 
minutes  for  the  murder,  robbery,  and 
escape. 

Returning  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
128 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

investigated  the  character  of  the  man 
Watt,  and  found  that  he  had  a  clean  rec- 
ord, was  regarded  as  a  trusty  and  effi- 
cient man,  and  had  three  brothers  who 
had  been  railroad  men  for  years  and  had 
always  given  perfect  satisfaction.  Watt's 
good  reputation  and  straightforward 
manner  were  strong  points  in  his  favor, 
and  yet  there  was  something  question- 
able in  his  story  of  the  mysterious  hand. 
For  one  thing,  no  footprints  were  found 
in  the  snow  on  the  top  of  the  car. 

Brakeman  Schwartz,  the  only  man  on 
the  train  who  had  not  yet  been  ques- 
tioned, "  deadheaded  "  his  way,  in  rail- 
way parlance,  back  from  Davenport  the 
following  night  on  conductor  Danforth's 
train,  and  reported  to  Mr.  Pinkerton  the 
next  morning.  He  was  a  tall,  fine-look- 
ing young  fellow,  about  twenty-seven, 
with  thin  lips  and  a  face  that  showed 
determination.  He  was  rather  dapper  in 
dress,  and  kept  on  his  gloves  during  the 
conversation.  Mr.  Pinkerton  received 
129 


True  Detective  Stories 

him  pleasantly,  and,  after  they  had  been 
smoking  and  chatting  for  an  hour  or  so, 
he  suggested  to  Schwartz  that  he  would 
be  more  comfortable  with  his  gloves 
off.  Schwartz  accordingly  removed 
them,  and  revealed  red  marks  on  the 
backs  of  his  hands,  such  as  might  have 
been  made  by  finger-nails  digging  into 
them. 

"  How  did  you  hurt  your  hands, 
Schwartz?"  asked  Mr.  Pinkerton. 

"  Oh,  I  did  that  handling  baggage 
night  before  last,"  explained  Schwartz; 
and  then  he  related  incidentally  that  as 
he  was  on  his  way  back  to  Chicago,  the 
conductor  of  the  train,  conductor  Dan- 
forth,  had  discovered  a  valise  left  by 
somebody  in  one  of  the  toilet-rooms. 
Later  in  the  day  Mr.  Pinkerton  sum- 
moned the  conductor,  who  said  that  the 
valise  was  an  old  one,  of  no  value ;  and, 
having  no  contents,  he  had  thrown  it  out 
on  an  ash-pile.  The  only  thing  he  had 
found  in  the  valise  was  a  piece  of  paper 
130 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

that  attracted  his  attention  because  it 
was  marked  with  red  lines. 

Examining  this  piece  of  paper  care- 
fully, Mr.  Pinkerton  saw  that  it  had  been 
torn  from  a  money- draft,  and  at  once 
thought  of  the  package  in  the  express 
messenger's  safe.  Now  it  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  no  human  power  can  tear 
two  pieces  of  paper  in  exactly  the  same 
way ;  the  ragged  fibers  will  only  fit  per- 
fectly when  the  two  original  parts  are 
brought  together.  There  remained  no 
doubt,  when  this  test  was  made  in  the 
present  case,  that  the  piece  of  paper 
found  on  conductor  Danforth's  east- 
bound  train  had  been  torn  from  the  draft 
in  the  express-car  robbed  the  night  be- 
fore on  the  west-bound  train.  The 
edges  fitted,  the  red  lines  corresponded, 
and  unquestionably  some  one  had 
carried  that  piece  of  paper  from  the  one 
train  to  the  other.  In  other  words,  some 
one  connected  with  the  crime  of  the  pre- 
vious night  had  ridden  back  to  Chicago 


True  Detective  Stories 

twenty-four  hours  later  with  conductor 
Danforth. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  at  once  ordered  a  search 
made  for  the  missing  valise,  and  also  an 
inquiry  regarding  the  passengers  who 
had  ridden  on  conductor  Danforth's 
train  between  Davenport  and  Chicago 
on  the  night  following  the  murder.  The 
valise  was  found  on  the  ash-heap  where 
the  conductor  had  thrown  it,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  next  few  days  the  detec- 
tives had  located  or  accounted  for  all 
passengers  on  conductor  Danforth's 
train,  with  the  exception  of  one  man 
who  had  ridden  on  a  free  pass.  The 
conductor  could  only  recall  this  man's 
features  vaguely;  and,  while  some  of 
the  passengers  remembered  him  well 
enough,  there  was  no  clue  to  his  name 
or  identity.  As  it  appeared  that  no 
other  of  the  passengers  could  have  been 
connected  with  the  crime,  efforts  were 
redoubled  to  discover  the  holder  of  this 
pass. 

132 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

II 

So  great  was  the  public  interest  in  the 
crime  and  the  mystery  surrounding  it 
that  three  separate,  well-organized  inves- 
tigations of  it  were  undertaken.  The 
Rock  Island  Railroad  officials,  with  their 
detectives,  conducted  one;  a  Chicago 
newspaper,  the  "  Daily  News,"  with  its 
detectives,  another;  and  the  Pinkertons, 
in  the  interest  of  the  United  States  Ex- 
press Company,  a  third. 

Mr.  Pinkerton,  as  we  have  seen,  con- 
cluded that  the  crime  had  been  com- 
mitted by  railway  men.  The  railway 
officials  were  naturally  disinclined  to 
believe  ill  of  their  employees,  and  an 
incident  occurred  about  this  time  which 
turned  the  investigation  in  an  entirely 
new  direction  and  made  them  the  more 
disposed  to  discredit  Mr.  Pinkerton's 
theory.  This  was  the  receipt  of  a  letter 
from  a  convict  in  the  Michigan  City 
penitentiary,  named  Plunkett,  who  wrote 


True  Detective  Stories 

the  Rock  Island  Railroad  officials,  saying 
that"  he  could  furnish  them  with  impor- 
tant information. 

Mr.  St.  John,  the  general  manager  of 
the  road,  went  in  person  to  the  peniten- 
tiary to  take  Plunkett's  statement,  which 
was  in  effect  that  he  knew  the  men  who 
had  committed  the  robbery  and  killed 
Nichols,  and  was  willing  to  sell  this  in- 
formation in  exchange  for  a  full  pardon, 
which  the  railroad  people  could  secure 
by  using  their  influence.  This  they 
promised  to  do  if  his  story  proved  true, 
and  Plunkett  then  told  them  of  a  plot  that 
had  been  worked  out  a  year  or  so  before, 
when  he  had  been  "  grafting "  with  a 
"  mob  "  of  pickpockets  at  county  fairs. 
There  were  with  him  at  that  time 
"Butch  "  McCoy,  James  Connors  (known 
as  "  Yellowhammer " ),  and  a  man 
named  "  Jeff,"  whose  surname  he  did  not 
know.  These  three  men,  Plunkett  said, 
had  planned  an  express  robbery  on  the 
Rock  Island  road,  to  be  executed  in  pre- 
134 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

cisely  the  same  way,  and  at  precisely  the 
same  point  on  the  road,  as  in  the  case  in 
question. 

The  story  was  plausible,  and  won  Mr. 
St.  John's  belief.  It  won  the  belief,  also, 
of  Mr.  Melville  E.  Stone  of  the  "  Daily 
News  "  ;  and  forthwith  the  railway  de- 
tectives, working  with  the  newspaper  de- 
tectives, were  instructed  to  go  ahead  on 
new  lines,  regardless  of  trouble  or  ex- 
pense. Their  first  endeavor  was  to  cap- 
ture "  Butch  "  McCoy,  the  leader  of  the 
gang.  "  Butch "  was  a  pickpocket, 
burglar,  and  all-around  thief,  whose 
operations  kept  him  traveling  all  over 
the  United  States. 

The  police  in  various  cities  having 
been  communicated  with  to  no  purpose, 
Mr.  Stone  finally  decided  to  do  a  thing 
the  like  of  which  no  newspaper  proprie- 
tor, perhaps,  ever  undertook  before — that 
is,  start  on  a  personal  search  for  McCoy 
and  his  associates.  With  Frank  Murray, 
one  of  the  best  detectives  in  Chicago,  and 


True  Detective  Stories 

other  detectives,  he  went  to  Galesburg, 
where  the  gang  was  said  to  have  a  sort 
of  headquarters.  The  party  found  there 
none  of  the  men  they  were  after,  but 
they  learned  that  "Thatch"  Grady,  a 
notorious  criminal  with  whom  "Butch" 
McCoy  was  known  to  be  in  relations, 
was  in  Omaha.  So  they  hurried  to 
Omaha,  but  only  to  find  that  Grady  had 
gone  to  St.  Louis.  Then  to  St.  Louis 
went  Mr.  Stone  and  his  detectives,  hot 
on  the  scent,  and  spent  several  days  in 
that  city  searching  high  and  low. 

The  method  of  locating  a  criminal  in 
a  great  city  is  as  interesting  as  it  is  little 
understood.  The  first  step  is  to  secure 
from  the  local  police  information  as  to 
the  favorite  haunts  of  criminals  of  the 
class  under  pursuit,  paying  special  regard 
in  the  preliminary  inquiries  to  the  possi- 
bility of  love-affairs;  for  thieves,  even 
more  than  honest  men,  are  swayed  in 
their  lives  by  the  tender  passion,  and  are 
often  brought  to  justice  through  the 

.36 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

agency  of  women.  With  so  much  of  such 
information  in  their  possession  as  they 
could  gather,  Mr.  Stone  and  his  detec- 
tives spent  their  time  in  likely  resorts, 
picking  up  acquaintance  with  frequen- 
ters, and,  whenever  possible,  turning  the 
talk  adroitly  upon  the  man  they  were 
looking  for.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  in  work  like  this  detectives  disguise 
themselves.  False  beards  and  mustaches, 
goggles  and  lightning  changes  of  clothing, 
are  never  heard  of  except  in  the  pages 
of  badly  informed  story- writers.  In  his 
experience  of  over  twenty- five  years  Mr. 
Murray  never  wore  such  a  disguise,  nor 
knew  of  any  reputable  detective  who  did. 
In  this  expedition  the  detectives  simply 
assumed  the  characters  and  general  style 
of  the  persons  they  were  thrown  with, 
passing  for  men  of  sporting  tastes  from 
the  East ;  and,  having  satisfied  the  peo- 
ple they  met  that  they  meant  no  harm, 
they  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
such  news  of  McCoy  and  the  others  as 
137 


True  Detective  Stories 

there  was.     Unfortunately,  this  was  not 
much. 

After  going  from  one  city  to  another 
on  various  clues,  hearing  of  one  member 
of  the  gang  here  and  another  there,  and 
in  each  instance  losing  their  man,  the 
detectives  finally  brought  up  in  New 
Orleans.  They  had  spent  five  or  six 
weeks  of  time  and  a  large  amount  of 
money,  only  to  find  themselves  absolutely 
without  a  clue  as  to  the  whereabouts  of 
the  men  they  were  pursuing.  They  were 
much  discouraged  when  a  telegram  from 
Mr.  Pinkerton  told  them  that  "  Butch  " 
McCoy  was  back  in  Galesburg,  where 
they  had  first  sought  him.  Proceeding 
thither  with  all  despatch,  they  traced 
McCoy  into  a  saloon,  and  there  three  of 
them, — John  Smith,  representing  the 
Rock  Island  Railroad ;  John  McGinn,  for 
the  Pinkerton  Agency ;  and  Frank  Mur- 
ray, working  for  Mr.  Stone, — with  drawn 
revolvers,  captured  him,  in  spite  of  a  des- 
perate dash  he  made  to  escape. 
.  138 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

McCoy's  capture  was  the  occasion  of 
much  felicitation  among  the  people  in- 
terested in  the  matter.  Mr.  St.  John 
and  Mr.  Stone  were  confident  that  now 
the  whole  mystery  of  the  express  robbery 
would  be  solved  and  the  murderer  con- 
victed. But  McCoy  showed  on  trial  that 
he  had  left  New  Orleans  to  come  North 
only  the  night  before  the  murder  and 
had  spent  the  whole  of  that  night  on  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad.  It  also  ap- 
peared that  McCoy's  associate,  Connors, 
was  in  jail  at  the  time  of  the  robbery, 
and  that  the  man  "Jeff"  was  dead. 
Thus  the  whole  Plunkett  story  was  ex- 
ploded. 

Ill 

SOME  time  before  this  the  man  who 
had  ridden  on  the  free  pass,  and  given 
the  detectives  so  much  trouble,  had  been 
accidentally  found  by  Jack  Mullins,  a 
brakeman  on  conductor  Danforth's  train. 
He  proved  to  be  an  advertising  solicitor, 


True  Detective  Stories 

employed  by  no  other  than  Mr.  Mel- 
ville E.  Stone,  who  would  have  given 
a  thousand  dollars  to  know  what  his 
agent  knew;  for  the  advertising  man 
had  seen  the  conductor  bring  out  the 
valise  containing  the  all-important  frag- 
ment of  the  draft.  But  he  had  not 
realized  the  value  of  the  news  in  his 
possession,  and  Mr.  Pinkerton  took  good 
care  to  keep  him  from  that  knowledge. 
One  hint  of  the  truth  to  the  "Daily 
News "  people,  and  the  whole  story 
would  have  been  blazoned  forth  in  its 
columns,  and  the  murderer  would  have 
taken  warning.  Not  until  he  had  seen 
the  man  safely  on  a  train  out  from  Chi- 
cago did  Mr.  Pinkerton  breathe  easily; 
and  it  was  not  until  months  later  that 
Mr.  Stone  learned  how  near  he  came  to 
getting  a  splendid  "  scoop  "  on  the  whole 
city  and  country. 

The  identification  of  the  pass-holder 
removed   the   last   possibility    that   the 
valise  had  been  taken  into  the  train  by 
140 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

any  of  conductor  Danforth's  passengers. 
And  yet  the  valise  was  there!  How 
came  it  there?  In  the  course  of  their 
examination  two  of  the  passengers  had 
testified  to  having  seen  Schwartz  enter 
the  toilet-room  during  the  run.  Brake- 
man  Jack  Mullins  stated  that  he  had  been 
in  the  same  room  twice  that  night,  that 
the  second  time  he  had  noticed  the  valise, 
but  that  it  was  not  there  when  he  went 
in  first.  Other  witnesses  in  the  car  were 
positive  that  the  person  who  entered  the 
room  last  before  the  time  when  Mullins 
saw  the  valise  was  Schwartz.  Thus  the 
chain  of  proof  was  tightening,  and  Mr. 
Pinkerton  sent  for  Schwartz. 

After  talking  with  the  brakeman  in  a 
semi-confidential  way  for  some  time,  the 
detective  began  to  question  him  about 
Watt,  his  fellow- trainman.  Schwartz 
said  he  was  a  good  fellow,  and,  in  gener- 
al, spoke  highly  of  him.  Mr.  Pinkerton 
seemed  to  hesitate  a  little,  and  then  said : 

"  Can  I  trust  you,  Schwartz  ?  " 
141 


True  Detective  Stories 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Well,  the  fact  is,  I  am  a  little  sus- 
picious of  Watt.  You  see,  his  story 
about  that  hand  overhead  does  not  ex- 
actly hang  together.  I  don't  want  to  do 
him  any  wrong,  but  he  must  be  looked 
after.  Now,  my  idea  is  to  have  you  go 
about  with  him  as  much  as  you  can,  see 
if  he  meets  any  strangers  or  spends  much 
money,  and  let  me  know  whatever  hap- 
pens. Will  you  do  it?" 

Schwartz  readily  consented,  on  the 
assurance  that  the  railroad  people  would 
give  him  leave  of  absence.  The  next 
day  he  reported  that  Watt  had  met  a 
man  who  wore  a  slouch-hat,  had  unkempt 
red  hair,  and  in  general  looked  like  a 
border  ruffian.  He  had  overheard  the 
two  talking  together  in  a  saloon  on  Cot- 
tage Grove  Avenue,  where  the  stranger 
had  discussed  the  murder  of  Nichols  in 
great  detail,  showing  a  remarkable  famil- 
iarity with  the  whole  affair.  Schwartz 
had  a  sort  of  Jesse  James  theory  (which 
142 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

he  seemed  anxious  to  have  accepted) 
that  the  crime  had  been  committed  by  a 
gang  of  Western  desperados  and  that 
this  fellow  was  connected  with  them. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  listened  with  interest 
to  all  this,  but  was  less  edified  than 
Schwartz  imagined,  since  two  of  his 
most  trusted  "  shadows,"  who  had  been 
following  Schwartz,  had  given  him  re- 
ports of  the  latter's  movements,  making 
it  plain  that  the  red-haired  desperado 
was  a  myth,  and  that  no  such  meeting 
as  Schwartz  described  had  taken  place. 
Nevertheless,  professing  to  be  well 
pleased  with  Schwartz's  efforts,  Mr. 
Pinkerton  sent  him  out  to  track  the 
fabulous  desperado.  Schwartz  contin- 
ued to  render  false  reports.  Finally, 
without  a  word  to  arouse  his  suspicion, 
he  was  allowed  to  resume  his  work  on 
the  railroad. 

The  "shadows"  put  upon  Schwartz 
after  this  reported  a  suspicious  intimacy 
between  him  and  Watt,  and  a  detective 


True  Detective  Stories 

of  great  tact,  Frank  Jones,  was  detailed 
to  get  into  their  confidence,  if  possible. 
He  was  given  a  "  run  "  as  brakeman  be- 
tween Des  Moines  and  Davenport,  and 
it  was  arranged  that  he  should  come  in 
from  the  west  and  lay  over  at  Daven- 
port on  the  same  days  when  Schwartz 
and  Watt  laid  over  there,  coming  in  from 
the  east.  Jones  played  his  part  cleverly, 
and  was  soon  on  intimate  terms  with 
Schwartz  and  Watt,  taking  his  meals  at 
their  boarding-house  and  sleeping  in  a 
room  adjoining  theirs.  They  finally 
came  to  like  him  so  well  that  they  sug- 
gested his  trying  to  get  a  transfer  to 
their  "  run,"  between  Davenport  and 
Chicago.  This  was  successfully  arranged, 
and  then  the  three  men  were  together 
constantly,  Jones  even  going  to  board  at 
Schwartz's  house  in  Chicago.  About 
this  time  Schwartz  began  to  talk  of  giving 
up  railroad  work  and  going  to  live  in 
Kansas  or  the  far  West.  It  was  ar- 
ranged that  Jones  should  join  him  and 
144 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

Mrs.  Schwartz  on  a  Western  trip.  Mean- 
time Schwartz  applied  to  the  company 
for  leave  of  absence,  on  the  plea  that  he 
wished  to  arrange  some  family  matters 
in  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Pinkerton,  being  informed  by 
Jones  of  Schwartz's  application,  used 
his  influence  to  have  it  granted.  When 
the  young  man  started  East  he  did  not 
travel  alone.  His  every  movement  was 
watched  and  reported,  nor  was  he  left 
unguarded  for  a  moment,  day  or  night, 
during  an  absence  of  several  weeks,  in 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  other  East- 
ern cities. 

To  one  unfamiliar  with  the  resources 
and  organization  of  a  great  detective 
system  it  is  incomprehensible  how  con- 
tinuous "  shadowing  "  day  after  day  and 
week  after  week,  through  thousands  of 
miles  of  journeying,  can  be  accom- 
plished. The  matter  is  made  none  the 
simpler  when  you  know  that  there  must 
be  a  change  of  "  shadows  "  every  day. 
145 


True  Detective  Stories 

However  adroit  the  detective,  his  con- 
tinued presence  in  a  locality  would  soon 
arouse  suspicion.  The  daily  change  of 
"  shadows  "  is  easy  when  the  man  under 
watch  remains  in  one  place ;  for  then  it 
is  only  necessary  to  send  a  new  "  shad- 
ow" from  the  central  office  early  each 
morning  to  replace  the  one  who  "  put  the 
man  to  bed  "  the  night  before.  But  it  is 
very  different  when  the  subject  is  con- 
stantly traveling  about  on  boats  or  rail- 
ways, and  perhaps  sleeping  in  a  different 
town  each  night.  Without  the  network 
of  agencies,  including  large  and  small 
bureaus,  that  the  Pinkertons  have  grad- 
ually established  all  over  the  United 
States,  the  "shadowing"  of  a  man  in 
rapid  flight  would  be  impossible.  As  it 
is,  nothing  is  easier.  Schwartz,  for  in- 
stance, spent  several  days  in  Buffalo, 
where  his  actions  were  reported  hour  by 
hour  until  he  bought  his  ticket  for 
Philadelphia.  As  he  took  the  train  a 
fresh  "  shadow  "  took  it  too,  securing  a 
146 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

section  in  the  same  sleeping-car  with  him, 
and  taking  his  meals  at  the  same  time 
Schwartz  took  his,  either  in  the  dining- 
car  or  at  stations.  No  sooner  had  the 
train  left  the  station  than  the  Pinkerton 
representative  in  Buffalo  reported  by 
cipher-despatch  to  the  bureau  in  Phila- 
delphia, whither  Schwartz  was  going. 
The  exact  form  of  the  despatch,  which 
well  illustrates  a  system  in  constant  use 
in  the  Pinkerton  bureaus,  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  R.  J.  LINDEN, 
"441  CHESTNUT  STREET, 
"  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

"Anxious  shoes  sucker  Brown  marbles 
man  other  dropping  eight  arrives  put 
grand  fifty  marbles  articles  along  or 
derby  coat  ship  very  tan  seer  wearing 
these  have  and  is  ribbon  ink  dust  central 
Tuesday  for  dust  to  rice  hat  and  and 
paper  vest  yellow  ink  get  must  jewelry 
morning  depot  on. 

"D.  ROBERTSON." 


True  Detective  Stories 

In  despatches  of  this  sort  important 
information  regarding  criminals  is  con- 
stantly flashing  over  the  wires,  with  no 
danger  of  any  "leak." 

Thus,  from  one  city  to  another,  and 
through  every  part  of  the  country,  any 
criminal  may  be  "  shadowed  "  to-day  as 
Schwartz  was  "  shadowed,"  one  set  of 
detectives  relieving  another  every  twen- 
ty-four hours,  and  the  man's  every  word 
and  action  be  carefully  noted  down  and 
reported,  without  his  having  the  faintest 
suspicion  that  he  is  under  observation. 
The  task  of  "  shadowing  "  a  person  who 
is  traversing  city  streets  is  intrusted  to 
men  especially  skilled  in  the  art  (for  art 
it  is)  of  seeing  without  being  seen.  This 
is,  indeed,  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks 
a  detective  is  called  upon  to  perform,  and 
the  few  who  excel  in  it  are  given  little 
else  to  do.  Where  a  criminal  like 
Schwartz,  upon  whose  final  capture 
much  depends,  is  being  followed,  two, 
three,  or  even  four  "  shadows  "  are  em- 
148 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

ployed  simultaneously,  one  keeping  in 
advance,  one  in  the  rear,  and  two  on 
either  side.  The  advantage  of  this  is 
that  one  relieves  the  other  by  change  of 
position,  thus  lessening  the  chance  of 
discovery,  while,  of  course,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  for  several  "  shadows "  to  be 
thrown  off  the  trail  at  once.  An  adroit 
criminal  might  outwit  one  "  shadow," 
but  he  could  scarcely  outwit  four.  A 
"  shadow,"  on  coming  into  a  new  town 
with  a  subject,  reveals  himself  to  the 
"shadow"  who  is  to  relieve  him  by 
some  prearranged  signal,  like  a  handker- 
chief held  in  the  left  hand. 

The  result  of  the  "  shadowing "  in 
Schwartz's  case  was  conclusive.  No 
sooner  was  the  brakeman  out  of  Chicago 
than  he  began  spending  money  far  in 
excess  of  his  income.  He  bought  fine 
furniture,  expensive  clothing,  articles  of 
jewelry,  presents  for  his  wife,  and  laid  in 
an  elaborate  supply  of  rifles,  shot-guns, 
revolvers,  and  all  sorts  of  ammunition, 
149 


True  Detective  Stories 

including  a  quantity  of  cartridges.  The 
"  shadows  "  found  that  in  almost  every 
case  he  paid  for  his  purchases  with  fifty  - 
or  one-hundred-dollar  bills.  As  far  as 
possible  these  bills  were  secured  by  the 
detectives  from  the  persons  to  whom 
they  had  been  paid,  immediately  after 
Schwartz's  departure.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  the  money  taken  in  the 
robbery  consisted  of  fifty-  and  one- 
hundred-dollar  bills. 


IV 


IN  addition  to  this,  it  was  found,  by 
the  investigations  of  detectives  at  Phila- 
delphia, that  Schwartz  was  the  son  of  a 
wealthy  retired  butcher  there,  a  most  re- 
spectable man,  and  that  he  had  a  wife  and 
child  in  Philadelphia,  whom  he  had  en- 
tirely deserted.  This  gave  an  opportu- 
nity to  take  him  into  custody  and  still 
conceal  from  him  that  he  was  suspected 
of  committing  a  higher  crime.  The  Phila- 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

delphia  wife  and  child  were  taken  on  to 
Chicago,  and  Schwartz  was  placed  under 
arrest,  charged  with  bigamy. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  went  to  the  jail  at  once, 
and,  wishing  to  keep  Schwartz's  confi- 
dence as  far  as  possible,  assured  him  that 
this  arrest  was  not  his  work  at  all,  but 
that  of  detectives  Smith  and  Murray,  who 
were,  as  Schwartz  knew,  working  in  the 
interests  of  the  railroad  people  and  of  the 
Chicago  "  Daily  News."  Mr.  Pinkerton 
told  Schwartz  that  he  still  believed,  as 
he  had  done  all  along,  that  Watt  was 
the  guilty  man,  and  promised  to  do  what- 
ever he  could  to  befriend  Schwartz.  The 
latter  did  not  appear  to  be  very  much 
alarmed,  and  said  that  a  Philadelphia 
lawyer  was  coming  on  to  defend  him. 
The  lawyer  did  come  a  few  days  later, 
when  a  bond  for  two  thousand  dollars 
was  furnished  for  Schwartz's  reappear- 
ance, and  he  was  set  at  liberty.  Matters 
had  gone  so  far,  however,  that  it  was  not 
considered  safe  to  leave  Schwartz  out  of 


True  Detective  Stories 

jail,  and  he  was  immediately  rearrested 
on  the  charge  of  murder. 

Whether  because  of  long  preparation 
for  this  ordeal  or  because  he  was  a  man 
of  strong  character,  Schwartz  received 
this  blow  without  the  slightest  show  of 
emotion,  and  went  back  into  the  jail  as 
coolly  as  he  had  come  out.  He  merely 
requested  that  he  might  have  an  inter- 
view with  his  wife  as  soon  as  possible. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  had  evidence  enough 
against  Schwartz  to  furnish  a  strong  pre- 
sumption of  guilt ;  but  it  was  all  circum- 
stantial, and,  besides,  it  did  not  involve 
Newton  Watt,  whose  complicity  was 
more  than  suspected.  From  the  first 
Mr.  Pinkerton  had  been  carefully  concil- 
iatory of  the  later  Mrs.  Schwartz.  At 
just  the  right  moment,  and  by  adroit 
management,  he  got  her  under  his  di- 
rection, and  by  taking  a  train  with  her  to 
Morris,  and  then  on  the  next  morning 
taking  another  train  back  to  Chicago,  he 
succeeded  in  preventing  her  from  getting 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

the  advice  of  her  husband's  lawyer,  who 
was  meantime  making  the  same  double 
journey  on  pursuing  trains  with  the  de- 
sign of  cautioning  her  against  speaking 
to  Mr.  Pinkerton.  She  had  come  to  re- 
gard Mr.  Pinkerton  more  as  a  protector 
than  as  an  enemy,  and  he,  during  the 
hours  they  were  together,  used  every  de- 
vice to  draw  from  her  some  damaging 
admission.  He  told  her  that  the  evidence 
against  her  husband,  although  serious  in 
its  character,  was  not,  in  his  opinion, 
sufficient  to  establish  his  guilt.  He  told 
her  of  the  bills  found  in  Schwartz's  pos- 
session, of  the  torn  piece  of  the  draft 
taken  from  the  valise,  of  the  marks  on 
his  hands  and  the  lies  he  had  told.  All 
this,  he  said,  proved  that  Schwartz  had 
some  connection  with  the  robbery,  but 
not  that  he  had  committed  the  murder, 
or  done  more  than  assist  Watt,  whom 
Mr.  Pinkerton  professed  to  regard  as  the 
chief  criminal.  The  only  hope  of  saving 
her  husband  now,  he  impressed  upon  her, 


True  Detective  Stories 

was  for  her  to  make  a  plain  statement  of 
the  truth,  and  trust  that  he  would  use 
this  in  her  husband's  interest. 

After  listening  to  all  that  he  said,  and 
trying  in  many  ways  to  evade  the  main 
question,  Mrs.  Schwartz  at  last  admitted 
to  Mr.  Pinkerton  that  her  husband  had 
found  a  package  containing  five  thousand 
dollars  of  the  stolen  money  under  one  of 
the  seats  on  conductor  Danforth's  train, 
on  the  night  of  his  return  to  Chicago. 
He  had  kept  this  money  and  used  it  for 
his  own  purposes,  but  had  been  guilty  of 
no  other  offense  in  the  matter.  Mrs. 
Schwartz  stuck  resolutely  to  this  state- 
ment, and  would  admit  nothing  further. 

Believing  that  he  had  drawn  from  her 
as  much  as  he  could,  Mr.  Pinkerton  now 
accompanied  Mrs.  Schwartz  to  the  jail, 
where  she  was  to  see  her  husband.  The 
first  words  she  said,  on  entering  the  room 
where  he  was,  were :  "  Harry,  I  have  told 
Mr.  Pinkerton  the  whole  truth.  I  thought 
that  was  the  best  way,  for  he  is  your 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

friend.  I  told  him  about  your  rinding 
the  five  thousand  dollars  under  the  seat 
of  the  car,  and  that  that  was  all  you  had 
to  do  with  the  business." 

For  the  first  time  Schwartz's  emotions 
nearly  betrayed  him.  However,  he  braced 
himself,  and  only  admitted  in  a  general 
way  that  there  was  some  truth  in  what  his 
wife  had  said.  He  refused  positively  to 
go  into  details,  seemed  very  nervous,  and 
almost  immediately  asked  to  be  left  alone 
with  his  wife.  Mr.  Pinkerton  had  been 
expecting  this,  and  was  prepared  for  it. 
He  realized  the  shock  that  would  be 
caused  in  Schwartz's  mind  by  his  wife's 
unexpected  confession,  and  counted  on 
this  to  lead  to  further  admissions.  It 
was,  therefore,  of  the  highest  importance 
that  credible  witnesses  should  overhear 
all  that  transpired  in  the  interview  be- 
tween Schwartz  and  his  wife.  With  this 
end  in  view,  the  room  where  the  interview 
was  to  take  place  had  been  arranged  so 
that  a  number  of  witnesses  could  see  and 
'55 


True  Detective  Stories 

hear  without  their  presence  being  sus- 
pected ;  and  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  a 
leading  merchant,  and  a  leading  banker 
of  the  town,  were  waiting  there  in  readi- 
ness. 

As  soon  as  the  door  had  closed  and 
the  husband  and  wife  were  left  alone, 
Schwartz  exclaimed: 

"  You  fool,  you  have  put  a  rope  around 
Watt's  and  my  neck!" 

"  Why,  Harry,  I  had  to  tell  him  some- 
thing, he  knew  so  much.  You  can  trust 
him." 

"You  ought  to  know  better  than  to 
trust  anybody." 

The  man  walked  back  and  forth,  a 
prey  to  the  most  violent  emotions,  his 
wife  trying  vainly  to  quiet  him.  At  each 
affectionate  touch  he  would  brush  her  off 
roughly,  with  a  curse,  and  go  on  pacing 
back  and  forth  fiercely.  Suddenly  he 
burst  out : 

"  What  did  you  do  with  that  coat — the 
one  you  cut  the  mask  out  of?" 

•56 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

"Oh,  that  's  all  right;  it  's  in  the 
woodshed,  under  the  whole  woodpile." 

They  continued  to  talk  for  over  an 
hour,  referring  to  the  murder  and  rob- 
bery repeatedly,  and  furnishing  evi- 
dence enough  to  establish  beyond  any 
question  the  guilt  of  both  Schwartz  and 
Watt. 

Meantime  Watt  had  been  arrested  in 
Chicago,  also  charged  with  murder,  and 
in  several  examinations  had  shown  signs 
of  breaking  down  and  confessing,  but  in 
each  instance  had  recovered  himself  and 
said  nothing.  The  evidence  of  Schwartz 
himself,  however,  in  the  interview  at  the 
jail,  taken  with  the  mass  of  other  evi- 
dence that  had  accumulated,  was  sufficient 
to  secure  the  conviction  of  both  men,  who 
were  condemned  at  the  trial  to  life-im- 
prisonment in  the  Joliet  penitentiary. 
They  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
hanged  but  for  the  conscientious  scruples 
of  one  juryman,  who  did  not  believe  in 
capital  punishment.  Watt  has  since 


True  Detective  Stories 

died,  but  Schwartz,  at  last  accounts,  was 
still  in  prison. 

About  a  year  after  the  trial  Schwartz's 
Chicago  wife  died  of  consumption.  On 
her  death-bed  she  made  a  full  con- 
fession. She  said  that  her  husband's 
mind  had  been  inflamed  by  the  constant 
reading  of  sensational  literature  of  the 
dime-novel  order;  and  that  under  this 
evil  influence  he  had  planned  the  rob- 
bery, believing  that  it  would  be  easy  to 
intimidate  a  weak  little  man  like  Nichols, 
and  escape  with  the  money  without  harm- 
ing him.  Nichols,  however,  had  fought 
like  a  tiger  up  and  down  the  car,  and 
had  finally  forced  them  to  kill  him.  In 
the  fight  he  had  torn  off  the  mask  that 
Mrs.  Schwartz  had  made  out  of  one  of 
her  husband's  old  coats.  It  was  Watt 
who  fired  the  pistol,  while  Schwartz  used 
the  poker.  Schwartz  had  given  Watt 
five  thousand  dollars  of  the  stolen  money, 
and  had  kept  the  rest  himself.  He  had 
carried  the  money  away  in  an  old  satchel 

158 


The  Rock  Island  Express 

bought  for  the  purpose.  A  most  unusual 
place  of  concealment  had  been  chosen, 
and  one  where  the  money  had  escaped 
discovery,  although  on  several  occasions, 
in  searching  the  house,  the  detectives 
had  literally  held  it  in  their  hands. 
Schwartz  had  taken  a  quantity  of  the 
cartridges  he  bought  for  his  shot-gun, 
and  emptying  them,  had  put  in  each 
shell  one  of  the  fifty-  or  one-hundred- 
dollar  bills,  upon  which  he  had  then 
loaded  in  the  powder  and  the  shot  in  the 
usual  way,  so  that  the  shells  presented 
the  ordinary  appearance  as  they  lay  in 
the  drawer.  The  detectives  had  even 
picked  out  some  of  the  shot  and  powder 
in  two  or  three  of  the  shells  ;  but,  finding 
them  so  like  other  cartridges,  had  never 
thought  of  probing  clear  to  the  bottom 
of  the  shell  for  a  crumpled-up  bill. 

Thus  about  thirteen  thousand  dollars 
lay  for  weeks  in  these  ordinary-looking 
cartridges,  and  were  finally  removed  in 
the  following  way :  While  Schwartz  was 


True  Detective  Stories 

in  jail,  a  well-known  lawyer  of  Philadel- 
phia came  to  Mrs.  Schwartz,  one  day, 
with  an  order  from  her  husband  to 
deliver  the  money  over  to  him.  She 
understood  this  was  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  the  trial  and  to  pay  the  other 
lawyers.  Superintendent  Robertson  re- 
members well  the  dying  woman's  emotion 
as  she  made  this  solemn  declaration,  one 
calculated  to  compromise  seriously  a  man 
of  some  standing  and  belonging  to  an 
honored  profession.  Her  body  was 
wasted  with  disease,  and  she  knew  that 
her  end  was  near.  There  was  a  flush  on 
her  face,  and  her  eyes  were  bright  with 
hatred  as  she  declared  that  not  one  dol- 
lar of  that  money  was  ever  returned  to 
her,  or  ever  used  in  paying  the  costs  of 
her  husband's  trial.  Nor  was  one  dollar 
of  it  ever  returned  to  the  railroad  com- 
pany, or  to  the  bank  officials,  who  were 
the  real  owners. 


160 


The  Destruction  of  the 
Renos 


The  Destruction  of  the 
Renos 


THE  first,  and  probably  the  most  dar- 
ing, band  of  train  robbers  that  ever 
operated  in  the  United  States  was  the 
notorious  Reno  gang,  an  association  of 
desperate  outlaws  who,  in  the  years  im- 
mediately following  the  war,  committed 
crimes  without  number  in  Missouri  and 
Indiana,  and  for  some  years  terrorized 
several  counties  in  the  region  about  Sey- 
mour in  the  last-named  State.  The 
leaders  of  this  band  were  four  brothers, 
John  Reno,  Frank  Reno,  "Sim"  Reno, 
and  William  Reno,  who  rivaled  one  an- 
other in  a  spirit  of  lawlessness  that  must 


True  Detective  Stories 

have  been  born  in  their  blood  through 
the  union  of  a  hardy  Swiss  emigrant  with 
a  woman  sprung  from  the  Pennsylvania 
Dutch.  Of  the  six  children  from  this 
marriage  only  one  escaped  the  restless, 
law-despising  taint  that  made  the  others 
desperate  characters,  this  single  white 
sheep  being  "  Clint "  Reno,  familiarly 
known  as  "  Honest "  Reno,  and  much 
despised  by  the  rest  of  the  family  for  his 
peaceful  ways.  Even  Laura  Reno,  the 
one  daughter,  famed  throughout  the 
West  for  her  beauty,  loved  danger  and 
adventure,  was  an  expert  horsewoman, 
an  unerring  shot,  and  as  quick  with  her 
gun  as  any  man.  Laura  fairly  worshiped 
her  desperado  brothers,  whom  she  aided 
in  more  than  one  of  their  criminal  under- 
takings, shielding  them  from  justice  when 
hard  pressed,  and  swearing  to  avenge 
them  when  retribution  overtook  them 
after  their  day  of  triumph. 

During  the  war  the  Renos  had  become 
notorious  as  bounty-jumpers ;  and  at  its 
164 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

close,  with  a  fine  scorn  for  the  ways 
of  commonplace  industry,  these  fierce- 
hearted,  dashing  young  fellows,  all  well- 
built,  handsome  boys,  cast  about  for 
further  means  of  excitement  and  oppor- 
tunities to  make  an  easy  living.  Begin- 
ning their  operations  in  a  small  way  with 
house-breaking  and  store  robberies,  they 
soon  proved  themselves  so  reckless  in 
their  daring,  so  fertile  in  expedients,  so 
successful  in  their  coups,  that  they 
quickly  extended  their  field  until,  in  the 
early  part  of  1866,  they  had  placed  a 
wide  region  under  contribution,  setting 
all  forms  of  law  at  defiance. 

John  Reno  and  Frank  Reno,  the  elder 
brothers,  were  at  this  time  the  dominat- 
ing spirits  of  the  band,  and  they  soon 
associated  with  them  several  of  the  most 
skilful  and  notorious  counterfeiters  and 
safe-burglars  in  the  country,  among  these 
being  Peter  McCartney,  James  and  Rob- 
ert Rittenhouse,  George  McKay,  John 
Dean,  alias  "  California  Nelse,"  and  Wil- 
165 


True  Detective  Stories 

Ham  Hopkins.  The  band  soon  came  to 
be  named  with  the  greatest  dread  and 
awe,  good  citizens  fearing  to  speak  a 
word  of  censure,  lest  swift  punishment 
be  visited  upon  them.  The  Reno  influ- 
ence made  itself  felt  even  in  local  politics, 
corrupt  officials  being  elected  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  outlaws,  so  that  their 
conviction  became  practically  impossible. 
The  Renos,  toward  the  end  of  1866, 
began  a  series  of  train  robberies  which 
were  carried  out  with  such  perfection  of 
organization,  such  amazing  coolness,  and 
such  uniform  success  as  to  attract  na- 
tional attention.  The  first  of  these  rob- 
beries took  place  on  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi Railroad,  being  accomplished  by 
only  four  men,  Frank  and  John  Reno, 
assisted  by  William  Sparks  and  Charles 
Gerroll.  Other  train  robberies  followed 
in  quick  succession,  the  same  methods  be- 
ing used  in  each,  with  the  same  immu- 
nity from  capture,  so  that  people  in  this 
region  would  say  to  one  another,  quite 
1 66 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

as  a  matter  of  course,  "  The  Reno  boys 
got  away  with  another  train  yesterday." 
But  while  indulging  in  its  own  acts 
of  outlawry,  the  Reno  band  strenuously 
objected  to  any  rivalry  or  competition 
on  the  part  of  other  highwaymen.  A 
train  robbery  was  perpetrated  on  the 
Jeffersonville  Railroad  early  in  1867. 
The  Renos  had  no  connection  with  this 
robbery.  It  was  accomplished  by  two 
young  men  named  Michael  Collins  and 
Walker  Hammond,  the  two  men  escap- 
ing with  six  thousand  dollars,  taken  from 
a  messenger  of  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany. But  their  horses  had  carried  them 
only  a  short  distance  from  the  looted 
train  when  they  found  themselves  sur- 
rounded by  the  formidable  Renos,  who 
had  quietly  watched  the  robbery  from  a 
place  of  concealment,  and  now  uncere- 
moniously relieved  the  robbers  of  their 
plunder.  Not  content  with  this,  and  as 
if  to  intimidate  others  from  like  trespasses 
on  their  preserves,  the  Renos  used  their 


True  Detective  Stories 

influence  to  have  their  rivals  arrested  for 
the  crime  by  which  they  had  profited  so 
little ;  and  both  were  subsequently  tried, 
convicted,  and  sentenced  to  long  terms 
in  the  Indiana  penitentiary.  The  Renos, 
meantime,  although  they  were  known  to 
have  secured  and  kept  the  six  thousand 
dollars,  were  allowed  to  go  unmolested, 
and  continued  their  depredations. 

Up  to  this  time  the  Reno  gang  had 
confined  their  operations,  for  the  most 
part,  to  Indiana ;  but  now  they  began  to 
make  themselves  felt  in  Missouri,  where 
a  number  of  daring  crimes  were  com- 
mitted, notably  the  robbing  of  the  county 
treasurer's  safe  at  Gallatin,  in  Daviess 
County.  In  this  last  act  John  Reno  was 
known  to  have  been  personally  concerned. 
The  case  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Allan 
Pinkerton. 

Taking  up  the  investigation  with  his 

accustomed  energy,  Mr.  Pinkerton  traced 

John  Reno  back  to  Seymour,  Indiana, 

where   the   gang   was   so   strongly   in- 

168 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

trenched  in  the  midst  of  corrupt  officials 
and  an  intimidated  populace  that  any 
plan  of  open  arrest  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Recognizing  this,  Allan  Pinkerton 
had  recourse  to  the  cunning  of  his  craft. 
He  began  by  stationing  in  Seymour  a 
trustworthy  assistant,  who  was  instructed, 
on  a  given  day  and  at  a  given  hour,  to 
decoy  John  Reno  to  the  railroad-station 
on  any  pretense  that  might  suggest  itself. 
Then  he  arranged  to  have  half  a  dozen 
Missourians,  the  biggest  and  most  power- 
ful fellows  he  could  find,  led  by  the 
sheriff  of  Daviess  County,  board  an  ex- 
press-train on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Railroad  at  Cincinnati,  and  ride  through 
to  Seymour,  arriving  there  at  the  time 
agreed  upon  with  his  assistant.  Along 
with  them  was  to  be  a  constable  bearing 
all  the  papers  necessary  to  execute  a 
requisition. 

When  the  train  reached  Seymour  there 
was  the  usual  crowd  lounging  about  the 
station,  and  in  it  were  John  Reno  and 
169 


True  Detective  Stories 

Mr.  Pinkerton's  lieutenant,  who  had  en- 
tirely succeeded  in  his  task.  While  Reno 
was  staring  at  the  passengers  as  they  left 
the  train,  he  was  suddenly  surrounded 
and  seized  by  a  dozen  strong  arms;  and 
before  his  friends  could  rally  to  his  aid, 
or  realize  what  was  happening,  he  was 
clapped  in  irons,  carried  aboard  the  train, 
and  soon  was  rolling  away  to  Missouri, 
under  arrest. 

Reno's  friends  stoutly  contested  the 
case  in  the  Missouri  courts,  arguing  that 
the  prisoner  had  been  kidnapped  and  that 
the  law  had  therefore  been  violated  by 
his  captors.  The  courts  decided  against 
them  on  this  point,  however;  and  John 
Reno,  with  several  less  important  mem- 
bers of  the  gang,  was  tried  and  convicted. 
He  was  sentenced  to  twenty-five  years 
of  hard  labor  in  the  Missouri  penitentiary. 

This  was  the  first  break  in  the  ranks  of 

the  band,  the  first  instance  in  which  they 

had  suffered  for  their  crimes.     But  the 

bold  spirit  of  the  organization  was  still 

170 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

unbroken.  Three  brothers  still  remained 
to  replace  the  one  who  was  gone ;  and 
so  far  from  learning  caution,  the  band 
launched  forthwith  into  still  more  daring 
and  frequent  offenses.  Trains  were 
"  held  up "  right  and  left ;  robberies 
were  committed;  and  early  in  1868  the 
gang  made  a  famous  raid  across  the 
country  through  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
robbing  safes  in  county  treasurers'  offices 
in  a  number  of  places.  In  several  in- 
stances some  of  the  members  were  ar- 
rested; but  they  always  managed  to 
have  the  prosecution  quashed,  or  in 
some  way  to  escape  conviction.  In  the 
spring  of  1868  their  operations  became 
so  outrageous,  and  the  situation  so  se- 
rious, that  Allan  Pinkerton  was  again 
called  upon  to  do  something  in  the  cause 
of  public  safety. 

In  March  of  this  year  the  safe  of  the 
county  treasurer  at  Magnolia,  Harrison 
County,  Iowa,  was  robbed  of  about  four- 
teen thousand  dollars;   and  Allan  Pin- 
171 


True  Detective  Stories 

kerton  detailed  his  son,  William  A.  Pin- 
kerton,  and  two  assistants,  to  run  down 
the  burglars.  Arrived  at  the  scene  of 
the  robbery,  the  detectives  found  that 
the  thieves  had  made  their  escape  on  a 
hand- car  and  had  gone  in  the  direction 
of  Council  Bluffs.  At  this  time  in  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  there  was  a  low  saloon,  kept 
by  a  man  who  had  formerly  lived  in 
Seymour  and  who  was  known  as  a  bad 
character.  It  was  decided  to  keep  a 
sharp  watch  on  this  resort,  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton  reasoning  that  since  Seymour  was 
the  friendly  refuge  of  the  Renos,  it  was 
altogether  likely  that  the  outlaws  would 
have  a  friend,  and  perhaps  an  abettor,  in 
the  saloon-keeper  who  had  once  lived 
there.  After  two  days'  watching,  the 
detectives  observed  a  large  man  of  dark 
complexion  enter  the  saloon  and  engage 
in  close  conversation  with  the  proprietor, 
having  with  him,  evidently,  some  myste- 
rious business. 

Investigation  disclosed  this  man  to  be 
172 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

Michael  Rogers,  a  prominent  and  wealthy 
citizen  of  Council  Bluffs,  and  the  owner 
of  an  extensive  property  in  the  adjoining 
counties.  Puzzled,  but  still  persuaded 
that  he  had  found  a  clue,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
put  a  "  shadow  "  on  Rogers,  and  hurried 
back  to  Magnolia,  where  he  learned  that 
on  the  day  preceding  the  robbery  Rogers 
had  been  seen  in  Magnolia,  where  he  had 
paid  his  taxes,  and  in  doing  so  had  loi- 
tered for  some  time  in  the  treasurer's 
office.  This  also  looked  suspicious. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  search  as  he 
might,  the  detective  could  find  nothing 
against  Rogers's  character,  every  one 
testifying  to  his  entire  respectability. 

Still  unconvinced,  Mr.  Pinkerton  re- 
turned to  Council  Bluffs,  where  he  was 
informed  by  the  man  who  had  been 
"  shadowing  "  Rogers  that  several  strange 
men  had  been  seen  to  enter  Rogers's 
house  and  had  not  been  seen  to  come 
out  again.  The  watch  was  continued 
more  closely  than  ever,  and  after  four 


True  Detective  Stories 

days  of  patient  waiting,  Rogers,  accom- 
panied by  three  strangers,  was  seen  to 
leave  the  house  cautiously  and  take  a 
west-bound  train  on  the  Pacific  Railroad. 
One  of  these  men,  a  brawny,  athletic 
fellow  nearly  six  feet  tall,  and  about 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton  shrewdly  suspected  was  Frank  Reno, 
although  he  could  not  be  certain,  never 
having  seen  Frank  Reno.  Feeling  sure 
that  if  his  suspicions  were  correct  the 
men  would  ultimately  return  to  Rogers's 
house,  Mr.  Pinkerton  did  not  follow  them 
on  the  train,  but  contented  himself  with 
keeping  the  strictest  watch  for  their  re- 
turn. The  very  next  morning  the  same 
four  men  were  discovered  coming  back 
to  the  house  from  the  direction  of  the 
railroad.  But  at  that  hour  no  train  was 
due,  which  was  a  little  curious ;  and  an- 
other curious  point  was  that  they  were 
all  covered  with  mud  and  bore  marks  of 
having  been  engaged  in  some  severe, 
rough  labor.  The  hour  was  early;  the 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

dwellers  in  Council  Bluffs  were  not  yet 
astir.  A  little  later  the  city  was  thrown 
into  a  fever  of  excitement  by  the  news 
that  the  safe  of  the  county  treasurer  at 
Glenwood,  in  Mills  County,  about  thirty 
miles  distant,  had  been  robbed  the  pre- 
vious night.  No  trace  had  yet  been  got 
of  the  thieves,  but  everything  indicated 
that  they  were  the  same  men  who  had 
robbed  the  safe  at  Magnolia.  One  re- 
markable point  of  similarity  in  the  two 
cases  was  the  means  employed  by  the 
robbers  in  escaping,  a  hand-car  having 
been  used  also  by  the  Glenwood  thieves ; 
and  they,  too,  were  believed  to  have  fled 
in  the  direction  of  Council  Bluffs.  In- 
vestigation soon  made  this  absolutely 
certain,  for  the  missing  hand-car  was 
found  lying  beside  the  railroad,  a  short 
distance  from  the  Council  Bluffs  station. 
Putting  these  new  disclosures  beside 
his  previous  suspicions  and  discoveries, 
Mr.  Pinkerton  was  further  strengthened 
in  his  distrust  of  the  man  Rogers;  and 


True  Detective  Stories 

although  the  local  authorities,  to  whom 
he  revealed  his  suspicions,  laughed  at 
him,  declaring  that  Rogers  was  one  of 
the  most  respectable  citizens  of  the  State, 
he  resolved  to  attempt  an  arrest.  Pro- 
ceeding to  Rogers's  house  with  all  the 
force  he  could  command,  he  placed  a 
guard  at  front  and  rear,  and  then,  with 
a  few  attendants,  made  his  way  inside. 
The  first  person  he  met  was  Mr.  Rogers 
himself,  who  affected  to  be  very  indig- 
nant at  the  intrusion. 

"  Who  have  you  in  this  house  ?  "  asked 
Mr.  Pinkerton. 

"  Nobody  but  my  family,"  answered 
Mr.  Rogers. 

"  We  '11  sec  abc  .  that,"  answered  Mr. 
Pinkerton  ;  and  then,  turning  to  his  men, 
he  ordered  them  to  search  the  premises. 

They  did  so,  and  soon  came  upon  the 
three  strangers,  who  were  taken  so  com- 
pletely by  surprise  that  they  made  no 
effort  at  resistance.  They  were  about  to 
sit  down  to  breakfast,  which  was  spread 
176 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

for  them  in  the  kitchen.  A  comparison 
with  photographs  and  descriptions  left  no 
doubt  that  one  of  the  three  was  Frank 
Reno.  A  second — a  man  of  dark  com- 
plexion, tall,  and  well  built — proved  to 
be  Albert  Perkins,  a  well-known  member 
of  the  Reno  gang.  The  third  was  none 
other  than  the  notorious  Miles  Ogle,  the 
youngest  member  of  the  band,  who  after- 
ward came  to  be  known  as  the  most  ex- 
pert counterfeiter  in  the  United  States. 
Ogle  at  this  writing  is  in  the  Ohio  peni- 
tentiary, serving  his  third  term  of  im- 
prisonment. At  his  last  capture  there 
were  found  in  his  possession  some  of  the 
best  counterfeit  plates  ever  made. 

While  they  were  securing  the-four  men 
the  detectives  noticed  that  smoke  was 
curling  out  of  the  kitchen  stove,  accom- 
panied by  a  sudden  blaze.  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton  pulled  off  a  lid,  and  found  on  the 
coals  several  packages  of  bank-notes, 
already  on  fire.  Fortunately  the  notes 
had  been  so  tightly  wrapped  together 
177 


True  Detective  Stories 

that  only  a  few  of  them  were  destroyed 
before  the  packages  were  got  out.  Those 
that  remained  were  afterward  identified 
as  of  the  money  that  had  been  stolen 
from  the  Glenwood  safe.  There  was 
thus  no  question  that  these  were  the 
robbers  so  long  sought  for.  A  further 
search  of  the  house  brought  to  light  two 
sets  of  burglars'  tools,  which  served  as 
cumulative  evidence. 

The  men  were  carried  to  Glenwood  by 
the  next  train.  They  were  met  by  a 
great  and  excited  crowd,  and  for  a  time 
were  in  danger  of  lynching.  Better 
counsel  prevailed,  however,  and  they 
were  placed  in  the  jail  to  await  trial. 

With  the  men  in  secure,  safe  custody, 
there  was  no  doubt  of  their  ultimate  con- 
viction; and  every  one  was  breathing 
easier  at  the  thought  that  at  last  the 
Reno  gang  was  robbed  of  its  terrors. 
Then  suddenly — no  one  will  ever  know 
how  it  happened — the  prisoners  made 
their  escape.  Great  was  the  surprise  and 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

chagrin  of  the  sheriff  of  Mills  County 
when,  on  the  morning  of  April  i,  1868, 
he  entered  the  jail,  only  to  find  their  cells 
empty.  A  big  hole  sawed  through  the 
wall  told  by  what  way  they  had  made 
their  exit.  They  left  behind  the  mock- 
ing salutation,  "  April  Fool,"  scrawled  in 
chalk  over  the  floors  and  walls  of  the  jail. 

A  large  reward  was  offered  for  the  cap- 
ture of  the  robbers,  but  nothing  was 
heard  of  them  until  two  months  later, 
when  an  express-car  on  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Railroad  was  boarded  at 
Marshfield,  Indiana,  by  a  gang  of  masked 
men,  and  robbed  of  ninety-eight  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  messenger  made  a 
brave  resistance,  but  could  not  cope  with 
the  robbers,  who  lifted  him  bodily  and 
hurled  him  out  of  the  car,  down  a  steep 
embankment,  while  the  train  was  running 
at  high  speed. 

All  the  facts  in  the  case  pointed  to  the 
Reno  brothers  as  the  authors  of  this 
outrage,  for  by  frequent  repetition  their 
179 


True  Detective  Stories 

methods  of  robbery  had  become  familiar. 
Allan  Pinkerton,  furthermore,  obtained 
precise  evidence  that  it  was  the  work  of 
the  Renos  from  secret  agents  whom  he 
had  stationed  at  Seymour  to  watch  the 
doings  of  the  gang.  Two  of  these  agents 
engaged  apparently  in  business  at  Sey- 
mour, one  setting  up  as  a  saloon-keeper 
in  a  rough  part  of  the  town,  another  tak- 
ing railroad  employment,  which  kept  him 
constantly  near  the  station.  A  third 
made  a  wide  acquaintance  by  passing 
for  a  gambler  and  general  good  fellow. 
So  successful  were  they  that  Allan  Pin- 
kerton was  soon  in  possession  of  facts 
proving  not  only  that  the  Marshfield 
robbery  had  been  committed  by  the 
Renos,  but  that  another  train  robbery 
which  followed  was  executed  by  John 
Moore,  Charles  Gerroll,  William  Sparks, 
and  three  others,  all  members  of  the 
Reno  organization.  Moore,  Gerroll,  and 
Sparks  were  arrested  shortly  after,  and 
placed  on  a  train  to  be  taken  from  Sey- 
180 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

mour  to  Brownstown,  the  county-seat 
But  they  never  reached  their  destination. 
As  the  train  stopped  at  a  small  station 
some  miles  from  Brownstown,  a  band 
of  masked  men,  well  armed,  rushed  on 
board,  overpowered  the  officers,  hurried 
the  three  outlaws  away  to  a  neighboring 
farm-yard,  and  there  strung  them  up  to 
a  beech-tree,  while  an  old  German  who 
owned  the  farm  looked  on  approvingly. 
This  was  the  first  act  of  retributive 
justice  done  by  the  Secret  Vigilance 
Committee  of  Southern  Indiana,  an  or- 
ganization as  extraordinary  as  the  situ- 
ation it  was  created  to  deal  with.  The 
entire  population  of  that  part  of  Indiana 
seemed  to  have  risen  in  self-defense  to 
crush  out  lawlessness.  A  second  act 
followed  several  days  later,  when  three 
other  men  who  had  been  concerned  in 
the  latest  train  robbery,  having  been 
captured  by  the  county  officials,  were 
taken  from  their  hands  and  condemned 
to  the  same  fate  as  their  companions. 
181 


True  Detective  Stories 

Each  one,  as  he  was  about  to  be  swung 
off,  was  asked  by  the  maskers  if  he  had 
anything  to  say.  The  first  two  shook 
their  heads  sullenly,  and  died  without 
speaking.  The  third,  standing  on  a  bar- 
rel with  the  rope  round  his  neck,  looked 
over  the  crowd  with  contemptuous  bra- 
vado, and  addressing  them  as  a  lot  of 
"  mossback  Hoosiers,"  said  he  was  glad 
he  was  not  of  their  class,  and  was  proud 
to  die  as  a  good  Republican.  The  barrel 
was  kicked  away,  the  rope  stiffened  with 
his  weight,  and  there  ended  the  career 
of  the  sixth  member  of  the  band. 

Hard  times  followed  for  the  surviving 
Renos.  Realizing  that  their  power  was 
broken,  they  fled  in  various  directions. 
The  three  brothers,  Frank,  William,  and 
"  Sim,"  though  still  at  large,  were  not 
left  long  to  enjoy  their  liberty.  A  large 
price  was  placed  on  their  heads,  and 
betrayal  came  quickly.  William  and 
''  Sim  "  were  arrested  soon  after,  in  In- 
dianapolis, and  turned  over  to  the  local 
182 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

authorities,  who,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
Vigilance  Committee,  took  the  prisoners 
to  New  Albany,  in  an  adjoining  county, 
where  they  were  placed  in  jail. 

The  Vigilance  Committee,  growing 
stronger  and  more  determined  every  day, 
now  scoured  the  whole  country  for  other 
members  of  the  gang  or  for  persons  be- 
lieved to  be  in  sympathy  with  it.  They 
literally  went  on  the  "  war-path  "  through 
this  whole  region  of  Indiana,  and  it  went 
ill  with  any  poor  wretch  who  incurred 
their  suspicion.  Like  the  "  Whitecaps" 
of  a  later  day,  they  sent  warnings  to 
all  who  came  on  their  black-list,  and 
administered  by  night,  and  sometimes 
by  day,  such  promiscuous  floggings  and 
other  forms  of  punishment  that  the  tough 
and  criminal  element  of  the  region  was 
entirely  cowed,  and  feared  to  raise  a  hand 
in  defense  of  the  Renos,  as  it  had  pre- 
viously done.  Up  to  the  time  the  Vigi- 
lance Committee  was  formed  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Reno  gang  had  been  con- 

183 


True  Detective  Stories 

victed  in  that  locality,  largely  because 
the  people  were  afraid  to  testify  against 
them.  They  knew  that  if  they  should 
testify,  their  stock  would  be  killed,  their 
barns  burned,  and  they  themselves  way- 
laid and  beaten.  This  was  the  reason 
offered  for  the  formation  of  the  Vigilance 
Committee  of  Southern  Indiana.  Whe- 
ther a  justification  or  not,  the  committee 
must  certainly  be  credited  with  having 
rid  the  State  of  a  monstrous  evil. 

In  the  excitement  of  other  events  the 
Pinkertons  had  not  forgotten  the  men 
who  had  escaped  from  the  Glenwood 
jail.  They  finally  traced  Miles  Ogle  and 
Albert  Perkins  to  Indianapolis ;  and  there 
Ogle  was  captured,  but  Perkins  escaped. 
Frank  Reno  was  discovered  a  little  later 
at  Windsor,  Canada,  where  he  was  living 
with  Charles  Anderson,  a  professional 
burglar,  safe-blower,  and  "  short-card  " 
gambler,  who  had  fled  to  Canada  to  es- 
cape prosecution.  Reno,  operating  with 
Anderson,  made  a  practice  of  registering 
184 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

as  "  Frank  Going  "  if  the  enterprise  in 
which  he  was  engaged  was  prospering, 
and  as  "Frank  Coming"  if  it  was  not 
prospering.  He  and  Anderson  were  now 
arrested  on  a  charge  of  robbery  and  of 
assault  with  intent  to  kill,  in  the  case  of 
the  express  messenger  hurled  from  his 
car  at  Marshfield,  Indiana.  Under  this 
form  their  offense  became  extraditable ; 
and  after  a  long  trial  before  the  stipen- 
diary or  government  magistrate,  Gilbert 
McMicken,  at  Windsor,  the  men  were 
ordered  for  extradition.  Aided  by  the 
ablest  lawyers,  they  carried  their  case, 
however,  to  the  highest  court  in  Canada. 
But  the  decision  of  the  lower  court  was 
affirmed  ;  and  in  October,  1868,  the  men 
were  surrendered  into  the  hands  of  Allan 
Pinkerton,  who  was  delegated  by  the 
United  States  government  to  receive 
them.  It  was  due  to  the  patience  and 
persistence  of  Mr.  Alfred  Gaither,  the 
Western  manager  of  the  Adams  Express 
Company,  and  his  then  assistant,  Mr. 

185 


True  Detective  Stories 

L.  C.  Weir,  now  president  of  the  company, 
and  to  the  general  policy  of  the  company 
to  permit  no  compromise  with  thieves, 
that,  regardless  of  cost  and  time,  the 
prosecution  was  continued  until  it  issued 
thus  successfully. 

Michael  Rogers  was  also  discovered  to 
be  in  Windsor  at  this  time,  and  he  was 
known  to  have  had  a  hand  in  the  Marsh- 
field  robbery  ;  but  he  escaped  arrest,  and 
remained  securely  in  Windsor  for  a  year 
or  two.  Later,  though,  he  reached  the 
penitentiary,  being  brought  to  grief  by  a 
burglary  done  at  Tolono,  Illinois.  On 
coming  out,  he  joined  the  notorious 
McCartney  gang  of  counterfeiters,  and 
had  many  narrow  escapes.  The  last 
known  of  him,  grown  an  old  man,  he 
was  living  quietly  on  a  farm  in  Texas. 

Made  at  last  secure  of  Reno  and 
Anderson,  Allan  Pinkerton  chartered  a 
tug  to  carry  them  to  Cleveland,  and  thus 
avoid  the  friends  who,  as  he  had  reason 
to  know,  were  waiting  across  the  river  in 
186 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

Detroit  to  effect  a  rescue.  When  the 
tug  had  gone  about  twenty  miles,  it  was 
run  down  by  a  large  steamer  and  sunk, 
the  passengers,  including  the  prisoners, 
being  saved  from  drowning  with  the 
greatest  difficulty.  The  prisoners  were 
carried  on  to  Cleveland  by  another  boat, 
and  from  there  were  hurried  on  by  rail 
to  New  Albany,  where  they  were  placed 
in  jail  along  with  "  Sim  "  and  William 
Reno. 

The  final  passage  in  the  history  of  the 
Reno  gang  occurred  about  a  month  later, 
in  the  latter  part  of  November,  1868, 
when  one  day  a  passenger-car  was 
dropped  off  at  Seymour,  Indiana,  some 
distance  from  the  station.  There  was 
nothing  remarkable  in  this,  nor  did  the 
car  attract  any  attention.  That  night  a 
train  passing  through  Seymour  took  up 
the  car  and  drew  it  away.  A  few  peo- 
ple about  the  station  when  the  car  was 
taken  up  remembered  afterward  that  this 
car  was  filled  with  strange-looking  men, 
187 


True  Detective  Stories 

who  wore  Scotch  caps  and  black  cloth 
masks,  and  seemed  to  be  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  tall,  dark- haired  man  addressed 
by  every  one  as  "No.  i."  Although 
there  were  at  least  fifty  of  these  men,  it 
is  a  remarkable  fact,  developed  in  a  sub- 
sequent investigation,  that  the  conductor 
of  the  train  could  remember  nothing 
about  the  incident,  declaring  that  he  did 
not  enter  the  car  and  knew  nothing  of 
its  being  attached  to  his  train.  It  is  cer- 
tain the  company  of  masked  men  did 
everything  in  their  power  to  avoid  atten- 
tion, scarcely  speaking  to  one  another 
during  the  ride  and  making  all  their 
movements  as  noiseless  as  possible. 

The  train  reached  New  Albany  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  car  was 
detached,  and  was  presently  emptied  of 
its  fifty  men  as  silently  and  mysteriously 
as  it  had  been  filled.  A  few  hurried 
commands  were  given  by  "No.  i,"  and 
then  the  company  marched  in  quiet  order 
to  the  jail.  Arrived  there,  they  sum« 
188 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

moned  the  jailer  to  open  the  doors,  but 
were  met  with  a  firm  refusal  and  "the 
shining  barrel  of  a  revolver.  There  fol- 
lowed an  exchange  of  shots,  in  which  the 
sheriff  received  a  ball  in  the  arm,  and 
two  local  police  officers  were  captured. 
Without  loss  of  time  the  jail  doors  were 
battered  down ;  the  company  entered, 
and  taking  the  three  Reno  brothers  and 
their  friend,  Charles  Anderson,  from 
their  cells,  placed  nooses  that  they  had 
ready  around  the  men's  necks,  and  hung 
them  to  the  rafters  in  the  corridors  of 
the  jail.  Then,  having  locked  the  doors 
of  the  jail,  leaving  the  prisoners  secure, 
they  made  their  way  silently  back  to  the 
New  Albany  station,  reaching  there  in 
time  to  catch  the  train  that  drew  out  at 
3 : 30  A.  M.  The  same  special  car  in 
which  they  had  come  was  coupled  to  this 
train,  and  dropped  off  at  the  switch  when 
Seymour  was  reached.  This  was  just 
before  daybreak  on  a  dreary  November 
morning. 

189 


True  Detective  Stories 

Who  these  fifty  men  were  was  never 
discovered,  although,  because  of  the  fact 
that  Reno  and  Anderson  had  been  ex- 
tradited from  Great  Britain,  the  general 
government  made  an  investigation.  It 
was  rumored,  however,  and  generally 
understood,  that  the  company  included 
some  of  the  most  prominent  people  in 
Seymour,  among  others  a  number  of 
railroad  and  express  employees.  It  was 
found  that  at  the  time  of  the  lynching  all 
the  telegraph  wires  leading  from  New 
Albany  had  been  cut,  so  that  it  was  noon 
of  the  following  day  before  the  country 
learned  of  it. 

The  newspapers  described  the  leader 
of  the  party  as  a  man  of  unusual  stature, 
who  wore  a  handsome  diamond  ring  on 
the  little  finger  of  his  right  hand.  Later 
some  significance  was  attached  to  the 
fact  that  a  well-known  railroad  official 
who  answered  this  description  as  to  stat- 
ure and  who  had  always  worn  a  hand- 
some diamond  ring  previous  to  the 

TQO 


The  Destruction  of  the  Renos 

lynching,   ceased  to  wear  his  ring  for 
several  years  afterward. 

After  the  execution  of  her  brothers, 
it  was  rumored  that  Laura  Reno  had 
taken  an  oath  to  devote  the  rest  of  her 
life  to  avenging  them  ;  and  for  a  moment 
there  were  threats  and  mutterings  of  re- 
prisals from  allies  or  surviving  members 
of  the  gang.  But  these  latter  were  not 
heard  again  after  a  certain  morning,  the 
third  day  after  the  execution,  when  the 
people  of  Seymour,  on  leaving  their 
homes,  were  startled  to  see  on  the  walls 
and  in  other  public  places  large  posters 
proclaiming  that  if  any  property  was 
injured  or  destroyed,  or  any  persons 
molested  or  assaulted,  or  if  there  was 
any  further  talk  in  regard  to  recent  hap- 
penings, some  twenty-five  persons,  there- 
in frankly  named,  who  were  known  to  be 
sympathizers  with  the  Renos,  or  to  be 
more  or  less  intimately  connected  with 
them,  had  better  beware.  And  as  for 
the  sister's  deadly  oath,  she  did  no  act 

JOI 


True  Detective  Stories 

in  proof  of  the  violent  intentions  imputed 
to  her,  but  instead  subsequently  became 
the  wife  of  a  respectable  man  and  settled 
down  to  a  useful  life,  though  a  much 
more  commonplace  one  than  she  had 
previously  known.  John  Reno,  after 
serving  fifteen  years  in  the  Missouri 
penitentiary,  was  released,  and  is  said  to 
be  at  present  living  on  the  old  farm. 
"Clint"  Reno,  or  "Honest"  Reno, 
always  stayed  at  the  old  homestead,  and 
has  never  been  willing  to  speak  of  his 
brothers  or  of  what  happened  to  them. 
Seymour,  purged  of  the  evil  influences 
that  corrupted  it,  has  grown  into  a  thriv- 
ing and  beautiful  little  city,  and  is  to-day 
one  of  the  model  towns  of  Indiana. 


191 


The  American  Exchange 
Bank  Robbery 


The  American  Exchange 
Bank  Robbery 


ElTE  in  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  May 
4,  1888,  two  messengers  left  the 
American  Exchange  National  Bank,  at 
the  northeast  corner  of  Cedar  Street  and 
Broadway,  New  York  City,  and  started 
down  the  busy  thoroughfare  for  the 
office  of  the  Adams  Express  Company, 
a  few  blocks  distant.  They  carried  be- 
tween them,  each  holding  one  of  the 
handles,  a  valise  made  of  canvas  and 
leather,  in  which  had  just  been  placed, 
in  the  presence  of  the  paying-teller,  a 
package  containing  forty-one  thousand 
dollars  in  greenbacks,  to  be  transmitted 
'95 


True  Detective  Stories 

to  the  United  States  Treasury  in  Wash- 
ington  for  redemption. 

Although  the  messengers — Edward  S. 
Crawford  and  old  "  Dominie  "  Earle — 
were  among  the  bank's  most  trusted 
employees,  their  honesty  being  consid- 
ered above  suspicion,  they  were  never- 
theless followed  at  a  short  distance  by 
bank  detective  McDougal,  an  old-time 
police  detective,  whose  snow-white  beard 
and  ancient  style  of  dress  have  long  made 
him  a  personage  of  note  on  Broadway. 
Detective  McDougal  followed  the  mes- 
sengers, not  because  he  had  any  fear  that 
they  were  planning  a  robbery,  but  be- 
cause it  is  an  imperative  rule  of  all  great 
banking  institutions  that  the  transfer  of 
large  sums  of  money,  even  for  very  short 
distances,  shall  be  watched  over  with 
the  most  scrupulous  care.  Each  mes- 
senger is  supposed  to  act  as  a  check  on 
his  fellow,  while  the  detective  walking 
in  the  rear  is  a  check  on  both.  In  such 
cases  all  three  men  are  armed,  and  would 
196 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

use  their  weapons  without  hesitation 
should  an  attack  be  made  upon  them. 

The  messengers  walked  on  through  the 
hurrying  crowd,  keeping  on  the  east 
sidewalk  as  far  as  Wall  Street,  where 
they  turned  across,  and  continued  their 
way  on  the  west  sidewalk  as  far  as  the 
Adams  Express  Company's  building, 
which  stands  at  No.  59  Broadway. 
Having  seen  them  safely  inside  the 
building,  the  detective  turned  back  to 
the  bank,  where  his  services  were  re- 
quired in  other  matters. 

Passing  down  the  large  room  strewn 
with  boxes  and  packages  ready  for  ship- 
ment, the  two  messengers  turned  to  the 
right,  and  ascended  the  winding  stairs 
that  in  those  days  led  to  the  money  de- 
partment, on  the  second  floor.  No  one 
paid  much  attention  to  them,  as  at  this 
busy  hour  bank  messengers  were  arriv- 
ing and  departing  every  few  minutes. 
Still,  some  of  the  clerks  remembered 
afterward,  or  thought  they  did,  that  the 
197 


True  Detective  Stories 

old  man,  Earle,  ascended  the  stairs  more 
slowly  than  his  more  active  companion, 
who  went  ahead,  carrying  the  valise 
alone.  Both  messengers,  however,  were 
present  at  the  receiving-window  of  the 
money  department  when  the  package 
was  taken  from  the  valise  and  handed  to 
the  clerk,  who  gave  a  receipt  for  it  in  the 
usual  form :  "  Received  from  the  Ameri- 
can Exchange  Bank  one  package  marked 
as  containing  forty-one  thousand  dollars, 
for  transfer  to  Washington  "  ;  or,  at  least, 
so  far  as  has  ever  been  proved,  both 
messengers  were  present  when  the  pack- 
age was  handed  in. 

The  two  messengers,  having  performed 
their  duty,  went  away,  Earle  hurrying  to 
the  ferry  to  catch  a  train  out  into  New 
Jersey,  where  he  lived,  and  Crawford 
returning  to  the  bank  with  the  empty 
valise.  The  valuable  package  had  mean- 
time been  ranged  behind  the  heavily 
wired  grating  along  with  dozens  of 
others,  some  of  them  containing  much 
198 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

larger  sums.  The  clerks  in  the  money 
department  of  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany become  so  accustomed  to  handling 
gold,  silver,  and  bank-notes,  fortunes 
done  up  in  bags,  boxes,  or  bundles,  that 
they  think  little  more  of  this  precious 
merchandise  than  they  might  of  so  much 
coal  or  bricks.  A  quick  glance,  a  touch 
of  the  hand,  satisfies  them  that  the  seals, 
the  wrappings,  the  labels,  the  general  ap- 
pearance, of  the  packages  are  correct; 
and  having  entered  them  duly  on  the 
way-bills  and  turned  them  over  to  the 
express  messenger  who  is  to  forward 
them  to  their  destination,  they  think  no 
more  about  them. 

In  this  instance  the  forty-one-thou- 
sand-dollar package,  after  a  brief  delay, 
was  locked  in  one  of  the  small  portable 
safes,  a  score  of  which  are  always  lying 
about  in  readiness,  and  was  lowered  to 
the  basement,  where  it  was  loaded  on 
one  of  the  company's  wagons.  The 
wagon  was  then  driven  to  Jersey  City, 
199 


True  Detective  Stories 

guarded  by  the  messenger  in  charge,  his 
assistant,  and  the  driver,  all  three  men 
being  armed,  and  was  safely  placed 
aboard  the  night  express  for  Washington. 
It  is  the  company's  rule  that  the  mes- 
senger who  starts  with  a  through  safe 
travels  with  it  to  its  destination,  though 
he  has  to  make  a  journey  of  a  thousand 
miles.  Sometimes  the  destination  of 
money  under  transfer  is  so  remote  that 
the  service  of  several  express  companies 
is  required ;  and  in  that  case  the  messen- 
ger of  the  Adams  Company  accompanies 
the  money  only  to  the  point  where  it  is 
delivered  to  the  messenger  of  the  next 
company,  and  so  on. 

The  next  morning,  when  the  package 
from  the  American  Exchange  Bank  was 
delivered  in  Washington,  the  experienced 
Treasury  clerk  who  received  it  perceived 
at  once,  from  the  condition  of  the  pack- 
age, that  something  was  wrong.  Em- 
ployees of  the  Treasury  Department 
seem  to  gain  a  new  sense,  and  to  be  able 
200 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

to  distinguish  bank-notes  from  ordinary 
paper  merely  by  the  "  feel,"  even  when 
done  up  in  bundles.  Looking  at  the 
label  mark  of  forty- one  thousand  dollars, 
the  clerk  shook  his  head,  and  called 
the  United  States  Treasurer,  James  W. 
Hyatt,  who  also  saw  something  suspi- 
cious in  the  package.  Mr.  Blanchard,  the 
Washington  agent  of  the  Adams  Express 
Company,  was  summoned,  and  in  his 
presence  the  package  was  opened.  It 
was  found  to  contain  nothing  more  valu- 
able than  slips  of  brown  straw  paper,  the 
coarse  variety  used  by  butchers  in 
wrapping  up  meat,  neatly  cut  to  the  size 
of  bank-notes.  The  forty-one  thousand 
dollars  were  missing. 

It  was  evident  that  at  some  point  be- 
tween the  bank  and  the  Treasury  a 
bogus  package  had  been  substituted  for 
the  genuine  one.  The  question  was, 
Where  and  by  whom  had  the  substitu- 
tion been  made  ? 

The  robbery  was  discovered  at  the 
201 


True  Detective  Stories 

Treasury  in  Washington  on  Saturday 
morning.  The  news  was  telegraphed  to 
New  York  immediately,  and  on  Saturday 
afternoon  anxious  councils  were  held  by 
the  officials  of  the  American  Exchange 
Bank  and  the  Adams  Express  Company. 
Inspector  Byrnes  was  notified ;  the  Pin- 
kerton  Agency  was  notified ;  and  urgent 
despatches  were  sent  to  Mr.  John  Hoey, 
president  of  the  express  company,  and  to 
Robert  Pinkerton,  who  were  both  out  of 
town,  that  their  presence  was  required 
immediately  in  New  York.  Meanwhile 
every  one  who  had  had  any  connection 
with  the  stolen  package — the  paying- 
teller  of  the  bank,  other  bank  clerks,  the 
messengers,  detective  McDougal,  the 
receiving-clerks  of  the  Adams  Express 
Company,  and  the  express  messenger — 
was  closely  examined.  Where  and  how 
the  forty-one  thousand  dollars  had  been 
stolen  was  important  to  learn  not  only 
in  itself,  but  also  to  fix  responsibility  for 
202 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

the  sum  lost  as  between  the  bank  and 
the  express  company. 

Three  theories  were  at  once  suggested  : 
the  bogus  package  might  have  been  sub- 
stituted for  the  genuine  one  either  at  the 
bank,  between  the  bank  and  the  express 
office,  or  between  the  express  office  and 
the  Treasury.  The  first  assumption 
threw  suspicion  on  some  of  the  bank 
employees,  the  second  upon  the  two 
bank  messengers,  the  third  upon  some 
one  in  the  service  of  the  express  com- 
pany. Both  the  bank  and  the  express 
company  stoutly  maintained  the  integrity 
of  its  own  employees. 

An  examination  of  the  bogus  package 
disclosed  some  points  of  significance. 
Ordinarily,  when  bank-notes  are  done  up 
for  shipment  by  an  experienced  clerk, 
the  bills  are  pressed  together  as  tightly 
as  possible  in  small  bundles,  which  are 
secured  with  elastic  bands,  and  then 
wrapped  snugly  in  strong  paper,  until 
203 


True  Detective  Stories 

the  whole  makes  a  package  almost  as 
hard  as  a  board.  Around  this  package 
the  clerk  knots  strong  twine,  melts  a 
drop  of  sealing-wax  over  each  knot,  and 
stamps  it  with  the  bank's  seal.  The  fin- 
ished package  thus  present?  i  neat  and 
trim  appearance.  But  in  the  present 
instance  the  package  received  at  the 
Treasury  was  loosely  and  slovenly 
wrapped,  and  the  seals  seemed  to  have 
been  put  on  either  in  great  haste  or  by 
an  inexperienced  hand.  Moreover,  the 
label  must  have  been  cut  from  the  stolen 
package  and  pasted  on  the  other,  for  the 
brown  paper  of  a  previous  wrapping 
showed  plainly  in  a  margin  running 
around  the  label.  The  address  on  the 
package  read : 

"$41,000. 

"  United  States  Treasurer, 
"  Washington, 

"D.  C." 

All  this  was  printed,  except  the  fig- 
ures   "41,000,"    even   the    dollar-sign. 
204 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

The  figures  were  in  the  writing  of  Mr. 
Watson,  the  paying-teller  of  the  bank, 
whose  business  it  was  to  oversee  the 
sending  of  the  money.  His  initials  were 
also  marked  on  the  label,  with  the  date 
of  the  sending ;  so  that  on  examining  the 
label  Mr.  Watson  himself  was  positive 
that  it  was  genuine. 

All  this  made  it  tolerably  clear  that 
the  robbery  had  not  been  committed  at 
the  bank  before  the  package  was  intrusted 
to  the  two  messengers ;  for  no  bank  clerk 
would  have  made  up  so  clumsy  a  pack- 
age, and  the  paying-teller  himself,  had 
he  been  a  party  to  the  crime,  would  not 
have  cut  the  label  written  by  himself  from 
the  genuine  package  and  pasted  it  on 
the  bogus  one;  he  would  simply  have 
written  out  another  label,  thus  lessening 
the  chances  of  detection.  Furthermore, 
it  was  shown  by  testimony  that  during 
the  short  time  between  the  sealing  up  of 
the  package  in  the  paying-teller's  depart- 
ment and  its  delivery  to  Dominie  Earle, 
205 


True  Detective  Stories 

who  took  it  first,  it  was  constantly  under 
the  observation  of  half  a  dozen  bank  em- 
ployees ;  so  that  the  work  of  cutting  off 
the  label  and  pasting  it  on  the  bogus 
package  could  scarcely  have  been  ac- 
complished then  without  detection. 

Earle  and  Crawford,  the  bank  messen- 
gers, were  submitted  to  repeated  exam- 
inations ;  but  their  statements  threw  no 
light  upon  the  mystery.  Both  stuck 
persistently  to  the  same  story,  which  was 
that  neither  had  loosed  his  hold  on  the 
handle  of  the  valise  from  the  moment 
they  left  the  bank  until  they  had  deliv- 
ered the  package  through  the  window  of 
the  express  company's  money  depart- 
ment. Accepting  these  statements  as 
true,  it  was  impossible  that  the  package 
had  been  tampered  with  in  this  part  of 
its  journey;  while  the  assumption  that 
they  were  not  true  implied  apparently  a 
collusion  between  the  two  messengers, 
which  was  highly  improbable,  since 
Dominie  Earle  had  been  a  servant  of  the 
206 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

bank  for  thirty- five  years,  and  had  never 
in  that  long  term  failed  in  his  duty  or 
done  anything  to  arouse  distrust.  Before 
entering  the  bank's  employ  he  had  been 
a  preacher,  and  his  whole  life  seemed  to 
have  been  one  of  simplicity  and  honest 
dealing. 

As  for  Crawford,  who  was,  indeed,  a 
new  man,  it  was  plain  that  if  the  Domi- 
nie told  the  truth,  and  had  really  kept 
his  hold  on  the  valise-handle  all  the  way 
to  the  express  company's  window,  his 
companion,  honest  or  dishonest,  would 
have  had  no  opportunity  to  cut  off  the 
label,  paste  it  on  the  bogus  package,  and 
make  the  substitution. 

Finally  came  the  theory  that  the 
money  package  had  been  stolen  while  in 
the  care  of  the  express  company.  In 
considering  this  possibility  it  became 
necessary  to  know  exactly  what  had 
happened  to  the  package  from  the  mo- 
ment it  was  taken  through  the  window 
of  the  money  department  up  to  the  time 
207 


True  Detective  Stories 

of  its  delivery  at  the  Treasury.  The 
package  was  first  receipted  for  by  the 
head  of  the  money  department,  Mr.  J.  C. 
Young.  Having  handed  the  receipt  to 
the  bank  messengers,  he  passed  the 
package  to  his  assistant,  Mr.  Littlefield, 
who  in  turn  passed  it  on  to  another  clerk, 
Mr.  Moody,  who  way-billed  it  in  due 
form  for  Washington,  and  then  placed  it 
in  the  iron  safe  which  was  to  carry  it  on 
its  journey.  Two  or  three  hours  may 
have  elapsed  between  the  receipt  of  the 
package  and  the  shipment  of  the  safe,  but 
during  this  time  the  package  was  con- 
stantly in  view  of  five  or  six  clerks  in  the 
money  department,  and,  unless  they  were 
all  in  collusion,  it  could  scarcely  have 
been  stolen  by  any  one  there.  As  for 
the  express  messenger  who  accompanied 
the  safe  on  the  wagon  to  the  train,  and 
then  on  the  train  to  Washington,  and 
then  on  another  wagon  to  the  Treasury 
building,  his  innocence  seemed  clearly 
established,  since  the  safe  had  been  locked 
208 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

and  sealed,  according  to  custom,  before 
its  delivery  to  him,  and  showed  no  signs 
of  having  been  tampered  with  when 
opened  in  Washington  the  following 
morning  by  another  representative  of 
the  express  company.  The  messenger 
who  accompanies  a  through  safe  to  its 
destination,  indeed,  has  small  chance  of 
getting  inside,  not  only  because  of  the 
protecting  seal,  but  also  because  he  is 
never  allowed  to  have  the  key  to  the  safe 
or  to  know  its  combination.  Recently, 
as  a  still  further  safeguard,  the  Adams 
Express  Company  has  introduced  into  its 
cars  an  equipment  of  large  burglar-proof 
and  fire-proof  safes,  especially  as  a  guard 
against  train  robbers,  who  found  it  com- 
paratively easy  to  break  open  the  small 
safes  once  in  use.  In  the  present  in- 
stance, of  course,  there  was  no  question 
of  train  robbers. 

One  important  fact  stood  out  plain  and 
uncontrovertible :  that  a  responsible  clerk 
in  the  money  department  of  the  Adams 
209 


True  Detective  Stories 

Express  Company  had  receipted  for  a 
package  supposed  to  contain  forty-one 
thousand  dollars  intrusted  to  the  com- 
pany by  the  bank.  This  threw  the  re- 
sponsibility on  the  company,  at  least 
until  it  could  be  shown  that  the  package 
as  delivered  contained  brown  paper,  and 
not  bank-notes.  In  accordance  with 
their  usual  policy  of  promptness  and 
liberality,  the  Adams  people  paid  over 
to  the  American  Exchange  Bank  the 
sum  of  forty-one  thousand  dollars,  and 
said  no  more  about  it.  But  their  silence 
did  not  mean  inactivity.  Their  instruc- 
tions to  their  detectives  in  this  case,  as 
in  all  similar  cases,  were  to  spare  neither 
time  nor  expense,  but  to  continue  the 
investigation  until  the  thieves  had  been 
detected  and  brought  to  punishment,  or 
until  the  last  possibility  of  clearing  up 
the  mystery  had  certainly  expired. 

Hastening  to  New  York  in  response  to 
the  telegram  sent  him,  Robert  Pinkerton 
examined  the  evidence  already  collected 
210 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

by  his  representative,  and  then  himself 
questioned  all  persons  in  any  way  con- 
cerned in  the  handling  of  the  money. 
Mr.  Pinkerton,  after  his  investigation,  was 
not  so  sure  as  some  persons  were  that 
the  package  had  been  stolen  by  em- 
ployees of  the  express  company.  He 
inclined  rather  to  the  opinion  that,  in 
the  rush  of  business  in  the  express  office, 
the  false  package,  badly  made  up  though 
it  was,  might  have  been  passed  by  one 
of  the  clerks.  This  conclusion  turned 
his  suspicions  first  toward  the  two  bank 
messengers.  Of  these  he  was  not  long 
in  deciding  Dominie  Earle  to  be,  in  all 
probability,  innocent.  While  he  had 
known  of  instances  where  old  men,  after 
years  of  unimpeachable  life,  had  suddenly 
turned  to  crime,  he  knew  such  cases  to 
be  infrequent,  and  he  decided  that  Earle's 
was  not  one  of  them.  Of  the  innocence 
of  the  other  messenger,  Crawford,  he  was 
not  so  sure.  He  began  a  careful  study 
of  his  record. 

211 


True  Detective  Stories 

Edward  Sturgis  Crawford  at  this  time 
was  about  twenty-seven  years  old,  a  man 
of  medium  height,  a  decided  blond,  with 
large  blue  eyes,  and  of  a  rather  effemi- 
nate type.  He  went  scrupulously  dressed, 
had  white  hands  with  carefully  manicured 
nails,  parted  his  hair  in  the  middle,  and 
altogether  was  somewhat  of  a  dandy. 
He  had  entered  the  bank  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  a  wealthy  New-Yorker,  a 
young  man  about  town,  who,  strange  to 
say,  had  made  Crawford's  acquaintance, 
and  indeed  struck  up  quite  a  friendship 
with  him,  while  the  latter  was  serving  in 
the  humble  capacity  of  conductor  on  a 
Broadway  car.  This  was  about  a  year 
before  the  time  of  the  robbery.  Thus 
far  Crawford  had  attended  to  his  work 
satisfactorily,  doing  nothing  to  arouse 
suspicion,  unless  it  was  indulging  a  ten- 
dency to  extravagance  in  dress.  His  sal- 
ary was  but  forty-two  dollars  a  month, 
and  yet  he  permitted  himself  such  luxuries 
as  silk  underclothes,  fine  patent-leather 
212 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

shoes,  and  other  apparel  to  correspond. 
Pushing  back  further  into  Crawford's  rec- 
ord, Mr.  Pinkerton  learned  that  he  had 
grown  up  in  the  town  of  Hancock,  New 
York,  where  he  had  been  accused  of 
stealing  sixty  dollars  from  his  employer 
and  afterward  of  perpetrating  a  fraud 
upon  an  insurance  company.  Putting 
all  these  facts  together,  Mr.  Pinkerton 
decided  that,  in  spite  of  a  perfectly  self- 
possessed  manner  and  the  good  opinion 
of  his  employers,  Crawford  would  stand 
further  watching.  His  general  conduct 
subsequent  to  the  robbery  was,  however, 
such  as  to  convince  every  one,  except 
the  dogged  detective,  that  he  was  inno- 
cent of  this  crime.  In  vain  did  "  shad- 
ows "  follow  him  night  and  day,  week 
after  week ;  they  discovered  nothing. 
He  retained  his  place  in  the  bank,  doing 
the  humble  duties  of  messenger  with  the 
same  regularity  as  before,  and  living 
apparently  in  perfect  content  with  the 
small  salary  he  was  drawing.  His  ex- 
*  213 


True  Detective  Stories 

penses  were  lightened,  it  is  true,  by  an 
arrangement  voluntarily  offered  by  his 
friend,  the  young  man  about  town,  who 
invited  him  to  live  in  his  own  home  on 
Thirty- eighth  Street,  whereby  not  only 
was  he  saved  the  ordinary  outlay  for 
lodgings,  but  many  comforts  and  luxu- 
ries were  afforded  him  that  would  other- 
wise have  been  beyond  his  reach. 

Thus  three  months  went  by  with  no 
result ;  then  four,  five,  six  months ;  and, 
finally,  all  but  a  year.  Then,  suddenly, 
in  April,  1889,  Crawford  took  his  depar- 
ture for  Central  America,  giving  out  to 
his  friends  that  he  was  going  there  to 
assume  the  management  of  a  banana 
plantation  of  sixty  thousand  acres,  owned 
by  his  wealthy  friend  and  benefactor. 

Before  Crawford  sailed,  however,  the 
"  shadows  "  had  informed  Mr.  Pinkerton 
of  Crawford's  intention,  and  asked  in- 
structions. Should  they  arrest  the  man 
before  he  took  flight,  or  should  they  let 
him  go  ?  Mr.  Pinkerton  realized  that  he 
214 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

was  dealing  with  a  man  who,  if  guilty, 
was  a  criminal  of  unusual  cleverness  and 
cunning.  His  arrest  would  probably 
accomplish  nothing,  and  might  spoil 
everything.  There  was  little  likelihood 
that  the  stolen  money  would  be  found  on 
Crawford's  person ;  he  would  probably 
arrange  some  safer  way  for  its  transmis- 
sion. Perhaps  it  had  gone  ahead  of  him 
to  Central  America  weeks  before. 

"  We  '11  let  him  go,"  said  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton,  with  a  grim  smile ;  "  only  we  'II 
have  some  one  go  with  him." 

The  Pinkerton  representative  em- 
ployed to  shadow  Crawford  on  the  voy- 
age sent  word,  by  the  first  mail  after 
their  arrival  in  Central  America,  that  the 
young  man  had  rarely  left  his  state-room, 
and  that  whenever  forced  to  do  so  had 
employed  a  colored  servant  to  stand  on 
guard  so  that  no  one  could  go  inside. 

Nothing  more  occurred,  however,  to 
justify  the  suspicion  against  Crawford 
until  the  early  part  of  1890,  when  the 
215 


True  Detective  Stories 

persistent  efforts  of  the  detectives  were 
rewarded  by  an  important  discovery.  It 
was  then  that  Robert  Pinkerton  learned 
that  Crawford  had  told  a  deliberate  lie 
when  examined  before  the  bank  officials 
in  regard  to  his  family  relations  in  New 
York.  He  had  stated  that  his  only  rela- 
tive in  New  York  was  a  brother,  Marvin 
Crawford,  who  was  then  driving  a  street- 
car on  the  Bleecker  Street  line.  Now 
it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton  that  Crawford  had  in  the  city  three 
married  aunts  and  several  cousins.  The 
reason  for  Crawford's  having  concealed 
this  fact  was  presently  brought  to  light 
through  the  testimony  of  one  of  the 
aunts,  who,  having  been  induced  to 
speak,  not  without  difficulty,  stated  that 
on  Sunday,  May  6,  1888,  two  days  after 
the  robbery,  her  nephew  had  called  at 
her  house,  and  given  her  a  package 
which  he  said  contained  gloves,  and 
which  he  wished  her  to  keep  for  him. 
It  was  about  this  time  that  the  papers 
216 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

contained  the  first  news  of  the  robbery, 
and,  her  suspicions  having  been  aroused, 
she  picked  a  hole  in  the  paper  covering 
of  the  package  large  enough  to  let  her 
see  that  there  was  money  inside.  Some- 
what disturbed,  she  took  the  package  to 
her  husband,  who  opened  it  and  found 
that  it  contained  two  thousand  dollars  in 
bank-notes.  Realizing  the  importance 
of  this  discovery,  the  husband  told  his 
wife  that  when  Crawford  came  back  to 
claim  the  package  she  should  refer  him 
to  him,  which  she  did. 

Some  days  later,  on  learning  from  his 
aunt  that  she  had  spoken  to  her  husband 
about  the  package,  Crawford  became 
greatly  excited,  and  told  her  she  had 
made  a  dreadful  mistake.  A  stormy 
scene  followed  with  his  uncle,  in  which 
the  latter  positively  refused  to  render 
him  the  money  until  he  was  satisfied  that 
Crawford  was  its  rightful  possessor.  A 
few  days  later  Crawford's  young  friend., 
the  man  about  town,  called  on  the  uncle, 
217 


True  Detective  Stories 

and  stated  that  the  money  in  the  pack« 
age  belonged  to  him  and  must  be  sur- 
rendered. The  uncle  was  still  obdurate ; 
and  when  Crawford  and  his  friend  became 
violent  in  manner,  he  remarked  mean- 
ingly that  if  they  made  any  more  trouble 
he  would  deliver  the  package  of  money 
to  the  Adams  Express  Company  and  let 
the  company  decide  to  whom  it  belonged. 
This  brought  the  angry  claimants  to  their 
senses,  and  Crawford's  friend  left  the 
house  and  never  returned.  Finally 
Crawford's  uncle  compromised  the  con- 
tention by  giving  his  nephew  five  hun- 
dred dollars  out  of  the  two  thousand,  and 
retaining  the  balance  himself,  in  payment, 
one  must  suppose,  for  his  silence.  At 
any  rate,  he  kept  fifteen  hundred  dollars, 
and  also  a  receipt  in  Crawford's  hand- 
writing for  the  five  hundred  dollars  paid 
to  him. 

Other  members  of  the  family  recalled 
the  fact  that  a  few  days  after  the  robbery 
Crawford  had  left  in  his  aunt's  store- 
218 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

room  a  valise,  which  he  had  subsequently 
called  for  and  taken  away.  None  of  them 
had  seen  the  contents  of  the  valise,  but 
they  remembered  that  Crawford  on  the 
second  visit  had  remained  alone  in  the 
store-room  for  quite  a  time,  perhaps 
twenty  minutes,  and  after  his  departure 
they  found  there  a  rubber  band  like 
those  used  at  the  bank.  The  detectives 
also  discovered  that  on  the  i$th  of  May, 
1888,  eleven  days  after  the  robbery, 
Crawford  had  rented  a  safety- deposit  box 
at  a  bank  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel 
building,  under  the  name  of  Eugene 
Holt.  On  the  i8th  of  May  he  had  ex- 
changed this  box  for  a  larger  one.  Dur- 
ing the  following  months  he  made  several 
visits  to  the  box,  but  for  what  purpose  , 
was  not  known. 

On  presenting  this  accumulated  evi- 
dence to  the  Adams  Express  Company, 
along  with  his  own  deductions,  Robert 
Pinkerton  was  not  long  in  convincing  his 
employers  that  the  situation  required  in 
219 


True  Detective  Stories 

Central  America  the  presence  of  some 
more  adroit  detective  than  had  yet  been 
sent  there.  The  difficulty  of  the  case 
was  heightened  by  the  fact  that  Craw- 
ford had  established  himself  in  British 
Honduras,  and  that  the  extradition 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
England  did  not  then,  as  it  does  now, 
provide  for  the  surrender  of  criminals 
guilty  of  such  offenses  as  that  which 
Crawford  was  believed  to  have  com- 
mitted. Crawford  could  be  arrested, 
therefore,  only  by  being  gotten  into  an- 
other country  by  some  clever  manoeuver. 
The  man  best  capable  of  carrying  out 
such  a  manceuver  was  Robert  Pinkerton 
himself;  and,  accordingly,  the  express 
company,  despite  the  very  considerable 
expense  involved,  and  fully  aware  that 
the  result  must  be  uncertain,  authorized 
Mr.  Pinkerton  to  go  personally  in  pursuit 
of  Crawford. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  arrived  at  Balize,  the 
capital  of  British  Honduras,  on  February 

220 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

17,1 890,  nearly  two  years  after  the  date 
of  the  robbery.  There  he  learned  that 
Crawford's  plantation  was  about  ninety 
miles  down  the  coast,  a  little  back  of 
Punta  Gorda.  Punta  Gorda  lies  near 
the  line  separating  British  Honduras 
from  Guatemala,  and  is  not  more  than  a 
hundred  miles  from  Spanish  Honduras, 
or  Honduras  proper,  directly  across  the 
Gulf  of  Honduras. 

Difficulties  confronted  Mr.  Pinkerton 
from  the  very  start.  People  were  dying 
about  him  every  day  of  yellow  fever, 
and  when  he  started  for  Punta  Gorda  on 
a  little  steamer,  the  engineer  came  aboard 
looking  as  yellow  as  saffron,  and  im- 
mediately began  to  vomit,  so  that  he 
had  to  be  taken  ashore.  Then  the 
engine  broke  down  several  times  on  the 
voyage,  and  the  heat  was  insufferable. 

As  the  boat  steamed  slowly  into  Punta 

Gorda  it  passed  a  small  steam  craft  loaded 

with  bananas.     "  Look,"  said  one  of  the 

passengers  to  Mr.  Pinkerton,  not  aware 

221 


True  Detective  Stories 

of  the  nature  of  Mr.  Pinkerton's  mission, 
"  there  goes  Crawford's  launch  now/' 

Landing  at  once,  the  detective  waited 
for  the  launch  to  come  to  shore,  which  it 
presently  did.  The  first  man  to  come  off 
was  Marvin  Crawford,  whom  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton  recognized  from  a  description,  al- 
though he  had  never  seen  him.  Then  he 
saw  Edward  Crawford  step  off,  dressed 
smartly  in  a  white  helmet  hat,  a  red  sash, 
a  fine  plaited  linen  shirt,  blue  trousers, 
patent-leather  shoes,  and  so  on.  Mr. 
Pinkerton  approached  and  held  out  his 
hand. 

"  I  don't  remember  you,"  said  Craw- 
ford ;  but  his  face  went  white. 

"  You  used  to  know  me  in  New  York 
when  I  examined  you  before  the  bank 
officials,"  said  the  detective,  pleasantly. 

Crawford  smiled  in  a  sickly  way  and 
said,  "  Oh,  yes;  I  remember  you  now." 

Mr.  Pinkerton  explained  that  he  had 
traveled  five  thousand  miles  to  talk  with 
him  about  the  stolen  money  package. 
222 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

Crawford  expressed  willingness  to  fur- 
nish any  information  he  could,  and  invited 
Mr.  Pinkerton  to  go  up  to  his  plantation, 
where  they  could  talk  the  matter  over 
more  comfortably.  Seeing  that  his  best 
course  was  to  humor  Crawford,  Mr. 
Pinkerton  consented,  though  realizing 
that  he  thus  put  himself  in  Crawford's 
power.  They  went  aboard  Crawford's 
launch  and  steamed  up  the  river,  a  very 
narrow,  winding  stream,  arched  quite 
over  through  most  of  its  length  by  the 
thick  tropical  foliage,  and  in  some  parts 
so  deep  that  no  soundings  had  yet  found 
bottom.  The  plantation  was  entirely 
inaccessible  by  land  on  account  of  im- 
passable swamps,  and  the  crooked  course 
of  the  river  made  it  a  journey  of  twenty- 
three  miles  from  Punta  Gorda,  although 
in  a  straight  line  it  was  only  six  miles 
away. 

Mr.   Pinkerton  was  surprised  at  the 
unpretentious   character   of  the   house, 
which  was  built  of  cane  and  palm  stocks 
223 


True  Detective  Stories 

and  roofed  with  palm  branches.  Origi- 
nally it  had  been  one  large  room,  but  it 
was  now  divided  by  muslin  sheeting  into 
two  rooms,  one  at  either  end,  with  a  hall 
in  the  middle.  Almost  the  first  thing 
Mr.  Pinkerton  noticed  on  entering  was  a 
fire-proof  safe  standing  in  the  hall.  It 
was  of  medium  size  and  seemed  to  be 
new.  He  knew  he  was  powerless,  under 
the  laws  of  the  country,  to  search  the 
safe,  but  he  made  up  his  mind  that  while 
he  was  in  the  house  he  would  keep  his 
eyes  as  much  as  possible  upon  it.  That 
night  he  did  not  sleep  for  watching.  But 
Crawford  did  not  go  near  the  safe  until 
the  next  morning,  when  he  went  to  get 
out  some  account- books.  While  the  door 
was  open  Mr.  Pinkerton  saw  only  a  small 
bag  of  silver  inside,  but  he  felt  sure  from 
Crawford's  manner  that  there  was  a 
larger  amount  of  money  there. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  remained  at  the  planta- 
tion for  forty-eight  hours.     On  the  sec- 
ond day  he  had  a  long  interview  with 
224 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

Crawford,  questioning  him  in  the  great- 
est detail  as  to  his  connection  with  the 
robbery.  Crawford  persisted  in  denying 
that  he  had  had  any  connection  with  it, 
or  had  any  knowledge  as  to  what  had 
become  of  the  stolen  money.  Argue  as 
he  would,  Mr.  Pinkerton  could  not  beat 
down  the  stubbornness  of  his  denials. 
All  direct  approaches  failing,  at  last  he 
tried  indirection.  He  spoke  of  Burke, 
the  absconding  State  treasurer  of  Louisi- 
ana, who,  along  with  a  number  of  other 
American  law-breakers,  had  fled  to  Cen- 
tral America.  "  Burke  had  a  level  head, 
had  n't  he  ?  "  said  he. 

"  How  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  Craw- 
ford. 

"  Why,  in  going  to  Spanish  Honduras. 
You  know  the  United  States  has  no  ex- 
tradition treaty  there  under  which  we 
could  bring  back  a  man  who  has  ab- 
sconded for  embezzlement  or  grand  lar- 
ceny. Burke  is  as  safe  there  as  if  he 
owned  the  whole  country." 
225 


True  Detective  Stories 

"  Is  that  so?"  said  Crawford,  looking 
significantly  at  his  brother  Marvin,  who 
was  present. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Pinkerton,  "  it  is.  I 
only  wish  the  fellow  would  come  up  here 
into  British  Honduras ;  then  we  might  do 
something  with  him." 

Here  the  subject  was  dropped. 

Next  Mr.  Pinkerton  exhibited  to 
Crawford  a  sealed  letter  written  by 
James  G.  Elaine  and  addressed  to  the 
chief  magistrate  of  British  Honduras, 
pointing  to  the  seals  of  the  State  De- 
partment to  assure  Crawford  of  the  let- 
ter's genuineness,  and  hinting  mysteri- 
ously at  the  use  he  proposed  making  of 
this  document  and  at  the  probable  effect 
that  would  follow  its  delivery. 

With  this  the  interview  closed,  and 
Mr.  Pinkerton  announced  his  intention 
of  going  back  to  Punta  Gorda.  Craw- 
ford had  practically  told  him  to  do  his 
worst,  and  he  had  not  concealed  his  in- 
tention of  doing  it.  Nevertheless  their 
226 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

relations  continued  outwardly  pleasant, 
and  Mr.  Pinkerton  was  treated  with  the 
hospitality  that  is  usual  in  tropical  coun- 
tries. He  saw  no  sign  of  any  disposition 
on  the  part  of  either  of  the  Crawfords  to 
do  him  harm,  but  he  kept  his  revolvers 
always  ready,  and  gave  them  no  chance 
to  catch  him  napping. 

Toward  evening  of  the  second  day 
Crawford  and  his  brother  got  the  launch 
ready,  and  took  Mr.  Pinkerton  down  the 
river  back  to  Punta  Gorda,  where  they 
said  good-by.  At  parting  Crawford 
made  a  brave  show  of  treating  the  whole 
matter  lightly.  "  I  may  see  you  in  New 
York  in  a  couple  of  months,"  he  said  to 
the  detective  as  they  shook  hands. 

"  If  you  see  me  in  New  York,"  said 
Mr.  Pinkerton,  "  you  will  see  yourself 
under  arrest." 

On  landing,  Mr.  Pinkerton  proceeded, 

with  all  the  obviousness  possible,  to  call 

at  the  house  of  the  British  magistrate, 

which  was  so  situated  that  Crawford  from 

227 


True  Detective  Stories 

the  launch  could  not  fail  to  see  him  enter. 
This  seems  to  have  confirmed  the  impres- 
sion he  had  been  striving  to  create,  that 
British  Honduras,  though  in  truth  a  per- 
fect refuge  for  a  criminal  like  Crawford, 
was  none.  Crawford,  apparently  thor- 
oughly frightened,  and  thinking  he  had 
not  an  hour  to  lose,  steamed  back  in  all 
haste  to  his  plantation,  gathered  together, 
as  subsequently  appeared,  his  money  and 
other  valuables,  and  then,  under  cover 
of  night,  dropped  down  the  river  again, 
put  out  to  sea  forthwith,  and  crossed  the 
Bay  of  Honduras  to  Puerto  Cortes,  in 
Spanish  Honduras,  the  country  of  all 
Central  America  in  which  Mr.  Pinkerton 
preferred  to  have  him.  In  short,  Mr. 
Pinkerton's  stratagem  had  worked  per- 
fectly. 

Mr.  Pinkerton's  reason  for  wishing  to 
get  Crawford  into  Spanish  Honduras  was 
not  because  the  treaty  arrangements  were 
more  favorable  there  than  in  British 
Honduras,  but  because  the  Pinkerton 

3*8 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

Agency  enjoyed  unusual  personal  rela- 
tions with  the  Honduras  government. 
Several  years  before,  when  President 
Bogram  had  in  contemplation  the  federa- 
tion of  Central  American  States  under 
one  government,  he  had  applied  to  the 
Pinkerton  Agency  for  reliable  detectives 
for  secret-service  work.  In  consequence 
of  this  the  present  head  of  the  Honduras 
secret  force  was  no  other  than  a  former 
Pinkerton  employee  who  had  been  rec- 
ommended by  the  New  York  office  to 
the  Honduras  government,  and  upon 
whom  Mr.  Pinkerton  knew  he  could  rely 
absolutely.  Another  man  equally  dis- 
posed to  favor  him  was  Mr.  Bert  Cecil,  a 
member  of  the  cabinet,  and  at  the  head 
of  the  telegraph  service,  and  thus  in  a 
position  to  render  most  valuable  service 
in  the  apprehension  of  Crawford. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Pinkerton  learned  of 
Crawford's  flight,  he  hurried  in  pursuit, 
crossing  the  bay  to  Livingston,  in  Gua- 
temala.    In  so  doing  he  risked  his  life, 
229 


True  Detective  Stories 

first  by  putting  out  to  sea  in  a  little 
dory,  and  then  by  trusting  his  safety  to 
a  treacherous  Carib  boatman,  who,  when 
they  were  several  miles  out,  evinced  a 
strong  disposition  to  take  possession  of 
the  detective's  overcoat,  in  order,  as  he 
explained  with  a  cunning  look,  to  turn 
its  silk  lining  into  a  pair  of  trousers.  At 
this,  Mr.  Pinkerton  carelessly  produced 
his  revolver,  which  had  a  quieting  effect 
upon  the  fellow,  and  the  voyage  was 
completed  in  safety.  But  soon  after 
landing  Mr.  Pinkerton  suffered  an  attack 
of  fever,  and  being  warned  by  the  doc- 
tors to  return  to  a  Northern  latitude,  he 
got  the  government  machinery  in  motion 
for  the  apprehension  of  Crawford,  had 
photographs  of  the  former  bank  messen- 
ger spread  broadcast  through  the  coun- 
try, and  then  having  cabled  the  New 
York  bureau  to  send  responsible  detec- 
tives to  take  his  place,  he  sailed  for  New 
Orleans. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  was  succeeded  in  Cen- 
230 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

tral  America  by  detective  George  H. 
Hotchkiss,  one  of  the  best  men  in  the 
country,  who  arrived  in  Balize  on  the 
1 8th  of  March.  A  telegram  from  Pin- 
kerton's  former  employee,  now  chief  of 
the  secret  police  in  Honduras,  informed 
him  that  Crawford  had  been  seen  in  San 
Pedro,  Spanish  Honduras,  on  the  pre» 
vious  Saturday,  and  was  being  closely 
pursued  by  Spanish  soldiers  accompanied 
by  Pinkerton  men.  Hotchkiss  sailed  at 
once  for  Puerto  Cortes,  where  he  learned 
from  the  American  vice-consul,  Dr.  Ruez, 
that  Crawford  had  left  San  Pedro  hastily 
the  previous  Monday  night.  On  further 
investigation  the  detective  discovered 
that  a  San  Francisco  bully  and  former 
prize-fighter, "  Mike  "  Neiland,  had  called 
at  Crawford's  boarding-house  on  Mon- 
day, and  warned  him  that  detectives  were 
pursuing  him  from  Puerto  Cortes  on  a 
hand-car.  Neiland  had  pretended  to  be 
Crawford's  friend,  and  said  he  would  keep 
him  out  of  the  hands  of  the  detectives. 
231 


True  Detective  Stories 

Crawford,  very  much  frightened,  grabbed 
up  some  of  his  luggage  and  left  the  house 
with  Neiland.  It  was  generally  believed 
that  Neiland  had  designs  on  Crawford's 
money,  and  would  not  hesitate  to  kill 
him,  if  need  were,  in  order  to  get  it. 

Hotchkiss  immediately  requested  Mr. 
Bert  Cecil,  at  Tegucigalpa,  the  capital,  to 
cover  all  telegraphic  points,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, have  Crawford  and  his  companion 
arrested  on  some  trivial  charge.  The 
day  after  he  reached  San  Pedro,  on 
March  22,  he  received  a  telegram  saying 
that  Crawford  and  Neiland  had  been  ar- 
rested and  taken  before  the  governor  at 
Santa  Barbara.  They  had  been  searched, 
and  about  thirty-two  thousand  dollars 
had  been  found  on  Crawford's  person. 
The  money  was  in  old  and  worn  bills  that 
in  every  way  resembled  those  in  the 
stolen  package.  Whether  they  were  the 
identical  bills  or  not  it  was  impossible  to 
say,  as  the  bank  had  not  recorded  the 
numbers. 

233 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

On  receipt  of  this  news,  Hotchkiss, 
accompanied  by  Jack  Hall,  a  guide,  set 
out  across  the  country  for  Santa  Barbara. 
The  journey  was  accomplished,  but  only 
after  the  most  terrible  suffering  and  many 
privations  and  dangers.  Moreover,  the 
fever  got  its  deadly  clutches  upon  detec- 
tive Hotchkiss ;  and  when  he  had  finally, 
dragged  himself  into  Santa  Barbara,  he 
cabled  the  New  York  office :  "  Crawford 
and  money  held  for  extradition.  Am 
sick.  Cannot  remain.  Coming  on  steamer 
Tuesday.  My  associate  takes  charge." 

Before  sailing  for  New  Orleans  detec- 
tive Hotchkiss  had  an  interview  with 
Crawford,  in  the  presence  of  the  Spanish 
officials,  and  obtained  from  him  a  written 
confession  of  his  guilt.  While  admitting 
that  he  had  been  a  party  to  the  robbery, 
the  absconder  tried  to  lessen  his  own 
crime  by  declaring  that  the  plan  to  plun- 
der the  bank  had  been  suggested  to  him 
by  two  men,  named  Brown  and  Bowen, 
whom  he  had  met  accidentally  on  a  rail- 
233 


True  Detective  Stories 

way-train  in  New  York,  and  with  whom 
he  had  afterward  become  very  friendly. 
These  men  had  taken  him  to  Brown's 
house  on  Thirty-eighth  Street,  some- 
where between  Eighth  and  Ninth  ave- 
nues (Crawford  could  not  locate  the  place 
more  precisely),  and  introduced  him  to 
a  fine-looking  woman  presented  as  Mrs. 
Brown,  who  was  also  in  the  conspiracy. 
They  told  him  that  he  was  earning  very 
little  money  for  a  man  in  such  a  respon- 
sible position,  and  that  he  might  easily 
make  a  fortune  if  he  would  put  his  inter- 
ests in  their  hands  and  be  guided  by 
their  advice. 

The  outcome  of  several  conversations 
was  a  plan  to  get  possession  of  a  valuable 
money  package  on  some  day  when  Craw- 
ford should  know  a  large  sum  was  to  be 
sent  away  from  the  bank.  He  claimed 
that  on  the  day  of  the  robbery  one  of  his 
fellow- conspirators,  Bowen,  followed  be- 
hind himself  and  Earle  after  they  entered 
the  Adams  express  offices,  and  managed 
234 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

to  substitute  a  bogus  package  for  the 
real  one  while  the  two  messengers  were 
going  up  the  stairs.  He  did  not  make 
this  attempt  until  he  saw  the  bank  de- 
tective McDougal  turn  back  up  Broad- 
way. Crawford  said  that  he  managed  it 
so  as  to  precede  Earle  in  going  up  the 
stairs,  which  gave  Bowen,  who  was 
standing  at  the  first  turn,  in  the  shadow, 
an  opportunity  to  open  the  satchel  and 
quickly  make  the  substitution.  Crawford 
declared  that  the  conspirators  gave  him 
only  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  as  his 
share  of  the  booty,  although  promising 
him  more.  This  sum  he  put  in  two  en- 
velops and  sent  to  his  aunt,  the  one  to 
whom  he  afterward  intrusted  the  package 
supposed  to  contain  gloves. 

Crawford  stated  further  that  Brown 
and  Bowen,  having  been  forced  to  flee 
the  country,  sent  him  word  from  Paris, 
some  time  later,  in  a  letter  written  by 
Mrs.  Brown,  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
stolen  money  had  been  buried  in  a  flow- 
235 


True  Detective  Stories 

er-bed  in  the  southeast  corner  of  a  yard 
on  West  Thirty-eighth  Street,  and  asked 
him  to  dig  it  up  and  send  it  to  them.  A 
remarkable  fact  in  this  connection  is  that 
the  yard  referred  to  on  West  Thirty- 
eighth  Street  belonged  to  the  house  of 
the  friend  and  benefactor  with  whom 
Crawford  was  living  at  the  time  of  the 
robbery. 

Crawford  claimed  to  have  carried  out 
these  instructions,  and  deposited  the 
package  of  money  taken  from  the  flower- 
bed in  the  safe-deposit  vaults  in  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel  building,  where,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  was  known  to  have 
rented  a  box.  He  gave  as  his  reason  for 
not  sending  the  money  to  Paris  that  he 
was  in  trouble  himself,  being  under  con- 
stant surveillance,  and  thought  it  best  to 
keep  the  money  secreted  for  the  time. 
He  admitted  that  he  had  carried  this 
money  with  him  to  Honduras,  and  that 
it  was  the  same  found  on  his  person  by 
the  detectives.  By  his  description  of 
236 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

Brown  and  Bowen,  the  former  was  a  man 
about  twenty- five  years  old,  of  slight 
build  and  light  complexion,  while  the 
latter  was  ten  years  older,  two  or  three 
inches  taller,  with  a  sandy  mustache  and 
very  fat  hands.  Mrs.  Brown  Crawford 
described  as  about  twenty- five  years  old, 
a  blonde,  with  regular  features.  He  had 
no  idea  what  had  become  of  these  peo- 
ple since  he  left  America,  having  had 
no  further  communication  with  them. 
None  of  the  alleged  conspirators  has  ever 
been  found,  and  they  are  believed  to  be 
purely  mythical. 

Detective  Hotchkiss  also  had  an  inter- 
view with  "  Mike  "  Neiland,  Crawford's 
companion  in  flight,  who  described  his 
first  meeting  with  Crawford  at  his  board- 
ing-house in  San  Pedro,  and  acknow- 
ledged that  he  had  deliberately  frightened 
Crawford  into  running  away  by  his  story 
of  the  pursuing  detectives.  He  described 
their  adventures  and  hardships  in  trying 
to  escape  over  the  rough  country,  the 
237 


True  Detective  Stories 

difficulties  they  experienced  in  buying 
mules,  their  sufferings  from  exposure  in 
the  swamps,  and  finally  their  capture  by 
the  soldiers.  Neiland  said  that  Crawford 
gave  him  three  thousand  dollars  in  fifty- 
dollar  bills,  and  also  allowed  him  to  carry, 
a  part  of  the  time,  a  large  package 
wrapped  in  oil-cloth  paper  and  sewed  up 
tightly.  Crawford  had  told  him  to  throw 
this  package  away  rather  than  let  any 
one  capture  it ;  for,  he  said,  it  contained 
money  which  would  send  him  to  prison 
if  found  upon  him. 

As  they  pushed  along  in  their  flight, 
Crawford  declared  repeatedly  that  he 
would  put  an  end  to  his  life  rather  than 
be  taken  prisoner ;  and  when  the  soldiers 
,  surrounded  them  he  drew  his  revolver 
and  tried  to  blow  his  brains  out.  One 
of  the  soldiers,  however,  was  too  quick 
for  him,  and  struck  the  weapon  out  of 
his  hand.  After  the  capture  Crawford 
vainly  tried  to  bribe  the  guards  to  let  him 
escape,  offering  them  as  much  as  ten 
238 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

thousand  dollars.  When  the  large  pack- 
age was  opened,  it  was  found  to  contain 
bundles  of  bills  sewed  together  with 
black  thread,  and  with  about  a  dozen 
rubber  bands  wrapped  around  them,  and 
a  stout  covering  of  buckskin  under  the 
oiled  paper.  The  money  amounted  to 
thirty-two  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, all  in  United  States  bills — fives,  tens, 
twenties,  fifties,  and  hundreds,  but  mostly 
fives.  Ultimately  the  money  was  re- 
turned to  the  American  Exchange  Bank. 
When  organizing  the  pursuit  of  Craw- 
ford, detective  Hotchkiss  had  arranged 
with  the  Honduras  government  that  any 
letters  and  telegrams  that  might  come 
addressed  to  the  absconder  should  be 
delivered  to  him.  Several  letters  were 
thus  secured  from  the  young  man  about 
town  in  New  York  who  had  befriended 
Crawford  so  constantly  in  the  past,  and 
who  seemed  now  disposed  to  stand  by 
him  even  in  adversity  and  disgrace.  The 
letters  contained  counsel  and  reproaches, 
239 


True  Detective  Stories 

and  seemed  to  indicate  that  relations  of 
unusual  familiarity  had  existed  between 
the  two  men.  Besides  these  letters,  two 
cablegrams  were  intercepted  from  the 
same  source,  both  being  sent  through  an 
intermediary.  The  first  was  dated  March 
15,  1890,  and  read:  "Tell  Crawford  go 
back.  Papers  bluff.  No  treaty  exists." 
The  second,  sent  two  days  later,  read: 
"  Inform  Crawford  will  meet  him  in 
Puerto  Cortes." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  young 
man  did  not  carry  out  his  intention  of 
joining  Crawford  in  Honduras,  for  the 
same  mail  which  would  have  brought 
him  Crawford's  reply  carried  the  star- 
tling news  that  his  protege  and  friend  was 
under  arrest  in  Santa  Barbara,  a  self-con- 
fessed bank  robber. 

The  government  of  Honduras  con- 
sented, thanks  to  their  friendly  relations 
with  the  Pinkertons,  to  deliver  Crawford 
over  to  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
agency,  and  superintendent  E.  S.  Gay- 
240 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

lor,  who  had  meantime  replaced  detec- 
tive Hotchkiss,  took  him  in  charge.  A 
guard  of  Spanish  soldiers  brought  the 
prisoner  to  Puerto  Cortes,  where  he  was 
placed  in  a  hotel  pending  his  transfer  to 
a  vessel  sailing  for  the  United  States. 
Superintendent  Gaylor  himself  was  pres- 
ent to  see  that  everything  was  managed 
properly,  and  he  was  seconded  in  his 
oversight  by  the  former  Pinkerton  em- 
ployee, the  head  of  the  secret  police 
in  Honduras.  The  final  arrangements 
had  been  made,  the  government  having 
taken  advantage  of  a  law  authorizing  the 
expulsion  of  "  pernicious  foreigners  "  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  Crawford.  The  su- 
perintendent had  actually  taken  passage 
for  himself  and  Crawford,  and  selected 
berths,  on  an  American  vessel  that  was 
to  sail  on  the  morning  of  May  2,  1 890 ; 
but  the  night  before  Crawford  made  his 
escape  from  the  hotel,  going  without  the 
money,  which  remained  in  the  detective's 
keeping.  How  he  escaped  is  still  a 
241 


True  Detective  Stories 

matter  of  conjecture.  The  hotel  stood 
on  the  water's  edge,  and  from  a  balcony 
to  which  Crawford  had  access  he  may 
have  managed  to  spring  down  to  a  wall 
built  on  piles.  From  there  he  may  have 
reached  the  hotel  yard  at  the  back,  and 
escaped  over  one  of  the  picket  fences 
that  separated  the  hotel  from  the  adjoin- 
ing property.  There  is  also  a  possibility 
that  the  Spanish  soldiers  were  bribed; 
but  this  has  never  been  proved,  and  is 
scarcely  probable,  as  Crawford  at  the 
time  of  his  escape  had  not  more  than 
seventy-five  dollars  in  Honduras  bills  in 
his  possession. 

During  the  following  days  and  weeks 
untiring  efforts  were  made  to  recapture 
him.  The  swamps  were  searched  for 
miles,  and  soldiers  were  sent  out  in  all 
directions.  Mr.  Gaylor  believed  that 
Crawford  succeeded  in  making  his  es- 
cape into  Guatemala,  which  was  only 
thirty  miles  distant.  He  was  undoubted- 
ly assisted  in  his  escape  by  the  fact  that 
242 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

people  in  the  surrounding  region  sym- 
pathized strongly  with  him  and  would 
have  done  anything  in  their  power  to 
conceal  him  from  his  pursuers.  At  any 
rate,  the  man  was  never  recovered. 

Seven  years  have  passed  since  Craw- 
ford's escape,  and  all  this  time  he  has 
been  left  undisturbed  in  Central  Amer- 
ica, where  he  has  been  frequently  seen 
by  people  who  know  him,  and  where  he 
seems  to  be  thriving.  At  last  accounts 
he  and  his  brother  were  engaged  in  busi- 
ness on  one  of  the  islands  in  the  Mos- 
quito Reservation  of  Nicaragua,  where 
they  were  regarded  as  dangerous  men 
by  the  government,  likely  to  incite  revo- 
lution. So  strong  was  this  feeling  on 
the  part  of  the  Nicaraguan  officials  that 
some  years  ago  advances  were  made  to 
the  United  States  government  to  have 
Crawford  surrendered,  the  Nicaraguan 
officials  declaring  that  they  would  gladly 
give  him  up  if  a  demand  for  his  extradi- 
tion was  made  by  the  proper  authorities 
243 


True  Detective  Stories 

in  Washington.  For  some  reason  the 
demand  has  never  been  made,  and  prob- 
ably never  will  be. 

Immediately  after  Crawford  had  made 
confession,  the  American  Exchange 
Bank,  realizing  that  there  was  no  longer 
any  doubt  that  the  robbery  was  com- 
mitted by  one  of  its  employees,  volun- 
tarily refunded  to  the  Adams  Express 
Company  the  forty-one  thousand  dollars 
that  had  previously  been  paid  to  it  by 
the  company,  together  with  interest 
thereon  for  two  years,  and  a  large  part 
of  the  expenses.  Therefore  the  only 
complainant  in  the  case  now  available 
would  be  the  bank  officials,  who,  for 
some  reason,  have  seen  fit  to  let  the 
matter  drop. 

Mr.  Pinkerton's  theory  of  the  way  in 
which  this  robbery  was  committed  is  that 
Crawford  had  an  accomplice  who  had 
previously  prepared  the  bogus  package, 
and  who,  by  previous  appointment,  was 
standing  on  the  stairs  in  the  express 
244 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

office  when  the  two  messengers  arrived. 
It  has  always  been  a  question  in  Mr. 
Pinkerton's  mind  whether  the  old  man 
Dominie  Earle  told  the  exact  truth  in 
his  testimony  before  the  bank  officials. 
Not  that  he  suspected  Earle  of  having 
been  implicated  in  the  crime,  but  he  has 
wondered  whether  Earle  might  not  have 
been  simply  negligent  to  the  extent  of 
leaving  Crawford  in  sole  possession  of 
the  valise  at  some  time  after  they  entered 
the  office.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Earle 
was  very  anxious  to  catch  a  four- o'clock 
train  at  one  of  the  New  Jersey  ferries,  in 
order  to  get  home  early.  He  may,  in 
his  haste,  have  allowed  Crawford  to  go 
up-stairs  with  the  valise  unaccompanied. 
This  would  explain  how  Crawford 
found  opportunity  to  open  the  valise  and 
make  substitution  of  the  bogus  for  the 
genuine  package.  Assuming  that  the 
accomplice  was  standing  at  a  turn  of  the 
stairs,  which  are  winding  and  rather 
dusky,  it  is  perfectly  conceivable  that 
245 


True  Detective  Stories 

such  a  change  of  packages  might  have 
been  effected  with  scarcely  a  moment's 
delay. 

But  consenting  that  Earle  told  the  ex- 
act truth,  he  admitted  that  he  lingered 
behind  Crawford  a  little  in  ascending  the 
stairs,  and  in  so  doing  he  may  have  fur- 
nished sufficient  opportunity  for  the  sub- 
stitution. An  old  man  going  up  rather 
steep  stairs  naturally  bends  his  head  for- 
ward to  relieve  the  ascent,  and  in  such 
position  he  might  fail  to  see  what  a  man 
close  in  front  of  him  even  was  doing. 
The  trouble  with  this  theory  is  that  it 
supposes  the  label  on  the  bogus  package 
to  have  been  a  forgery. 

There  is  still  another  theory  suggested 
by  Mr.  Pinkerton  to  account  for  the 
presence  of  the  bogus  money  package 
in  the  valise  when  the  two  messengers 
reached  the  counter  of  the  receiving  de- 
partment. It  is  that  Crawford's  con- 
federate had  provided  himself  with  a 
second  valise,  similar  in  all  respects  to 
246 


American  Exchange  Robbery 

the  one  used  by  the  bank,  and  that  in 
this  had  been  placed  the  bogus  package 
with  a  forged  label,  making  the  substitu- 
tion a  matter  of  merely  changing  valises, 
which  could  have  been  accomplished  in 
a  second.  It  has  also  been  suggested 
that  Crawford  might  have  managed  the 
whole  scheme  himself,  by  having  pre- 
pared a  valise  like  the  one  he  carried 
daily,  arranged  with  two  compartments, 
in  one  of  which  was  placed  the  genuine 
package  received  from  the  paying-teller 
at  the  bank,  while  out  of  the  other  com- 
partment was  taken  at  the  express  office 
a  bogus  package  previously  placed  there. 
What  makes  it  the  more  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  Crawford  accomplished  the 
theft  single-handed  is  the  fact  that  when 
arrested  in  Honduras  the  bulk  of  the 
stolen  money  was  found  on  his  person, 
while  it  was  known  that,  in  addition  to 
the  thirty-two  thousand  dollars  then  re- 
covered, he  had  previously  spent  con- 
siderable sums  in  various  ways.  His 
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True  Detective  Stories 

voyage,  for  instance,  must  have  been 
expensive ;  and  it  was  found  that  he  had 
given  at  various  times  to  members  of  his 
family  sums  ranging  from  twenty  to  fifty 
dollars.  This  would  have  left  out  of  the 
original  forty-one  thousand  dollars  a  very 
meager  remuneration  for  a  confederate. 

Perhaps  the  most  reasonable  explana- 
tion of  the  robbery  lies  in  the  assumption 
that  Dominie  Earle,  honest,  but  simple- 
minded,  did  not  go  up-stairs  at  all  with 
Crawford,  but  left  him  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs,  influenced  by  his  eagerness  to  get 
home.  Granting  this  supposition,  what 
would  have  been  easier  than  for  Craw- 
ford, left  alone  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs, 
to  have  turned  back  with  the  valise  and 
gone  into  the  back  room  of  some  neigh- 
boring saloon,  or  other  convenient  place, 
where  he  could  manipulate  the  label  and 
substitute  the  bogus  package  ?  There  is 
reason  to  think  that  the  bogus  package 
had  been  prepared  weeks  before,  which 
would  have  accounted  in  a  measure  for 

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American  Exchange  Robbery 

its  worn  and  slovenly  appearance.  The 
time  occupied  in  doing  all  this  need  not 
have  been  over  fifteen  minutes,  which 
would  not  have  been  noticed  at  the 
bank,  especially  as  the  robbery  occurred 
after  banking  hours.  It  is  highly  im- 
probable, however,  that  Crawford  could 
have  accomplished  the  substitution  on 
the  stairs  of  the  express  office ;  for,  while 
these  are  winding  and  somewhat  in  the 
shadow,  they  are  by  no  means  dark,  and 
are  plainly  in  view  of  clerks  and  officials 
who  are  constantly  passing.  Besides 
that,  Crawford  could  not  have  carried 
the  dummy  package  concealed  about  his 
person  without  attracting  attention,  for 
the  original  package  was  quite  bulky, 
being  about  twenty  inches  long,  twenty 
inches  wide,  and  fourteen  inches  thick. 
The  bogus  package  was  not  quite  so 
thick,  and  more  oblong,  but  could  not 
easily  have  been  hidden  under  a  man's 
coat.  Finally,  even  supposing  Crawford 
did  carry  the  bogus  package  with  him  in 
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True  Detective  Stories 

some  manner,  he  would  never  have  dared 
to  expose  himself  to  almost  certain  de- 
tection by  cutting  off  the  label  from  the 
genuine  package,  pasting  it  on  the  bogus 
package,  placing  the  latter  in  the  valise, 
and  hiding  the  genuine  one  in  his  clothes 
— and  doing  all  this  on  the  busy  stairs  of 
an  express  office  where  at  that  hour  of 
the  day  a  dozen  men  are  going  up  and 
down  every  minute. 

The  sum  of  all  these  theories  is,  how- 
ever, that,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
author  of  the  robbery  is  known  and  the 
bulk  of  the  money  has  been  recovered, 
the  manner  of  the  robbery  is  to  this  day 
a  mystery. 


250 


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